Is this tiny island worth fighting for?

Migingo island that is at the centre of a row between Kenya and Uganda is a one acre rocky and rugged piece of land without any vegetation.

This land was not inhabited for years until in the 1990s when fishermen discovered that it had a high concentration of Nile perch according to councillor Dickens Warentho of Muhuru beach.

The island was then turned into an outpost for fishermen from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Today Migingo is a thriving commercial centre that has attracted investors from different parts of East Africa.

Due to a lucrative fish industry on the island, prostitution is thriving after invasion by commercial sex workers from Kenya and Uganda.

All the shops, bars, hotels and guest houses are makeshift iron sheet dwellings that serves the fishermen who frequent the island. Migingo is home to about 1,000 people most of them Kenyans although there are some Ugandans and Tanzanians.

Apart from the Ugandan marine officers who collect fishing levy, no local authority or revenue body from either Kenya or Uganda collect levies and taxes from traders. No one on the island has a title deed.

Although the island is claimed by both Kenya and Uganda none of the two countries has posted administration there. The island is supposed to be in Muhuru, Nyatike constituency.

And even during the General Election in 2007 and during previous polls there were no polling stations on the island. Instead the islanders vote in Muhuru, Nyandiwa, Sori and Mugabo on the mainland and other beaches.

But the Nyanza provincial commissioner, Mr Paul Olando, insists the island belong to Kenya and there are records from colonial times to support this position.

A boat ride from Muhuru beach to Migingo takes about two hours. It is, however, eight hours by boat to Uganda’s Bugiri District, where the island is said to fall administratively.

Area MP Edick Anyanga insists the island belongs to Kenya. “Migingo belongs to Kenya and all the maps I have seen confirm this,” he says.

But according to the Bugiri District Commissioner in Uganda, Ms Mwanamoiza Chikomeko, settlements on Migingo began in 2000. Ms Chikomeko said mechanisms had been put in place to establish the ownership of the island and Ugandan security personnel will remain there until the matter is resolved.

But Migori DC Julius Mutula disputes the history of the Island as given by his Bugiri counterpart.

“According to records in the possession of the Kenyan Government, the first people  came here in 1992,” he said.

Nyanza MPs are now calling for deployment of the Kenya Navy in the lake. Mr Anyanga and his Kasipul Kabondo counterpart Joseph Magwanga want the government to set up a naval base in Lake Victoria to deal with external aggression.

In the past five months the two East African countries have clashed twice over the ownership of the island. The latest incident was on Thursday when eight Administration Policemen from Kenya were sent there prompting Uganda to demand their removal. The dispute is now before the East African Community.

Kenya formed a four-man inter-ministerial team led by Lands minister James Orengo to address the conflict. The teams hired a mapping firm late last year to survey the island.

Ministerial team

A report compiled by the company was last week debated by the East African Legislative Assembly in Rwanda.

The meeting was to discuss the report and present it to East African Community chairman Rwandan President Paul Kagame to determine the owner of the island.

The row started when Ugandan dictator Idi Amin seized some islands claiming they belonged to his country. Others were Lolwe, Wayami, Remba and Sigulu.