Migingo survey to start next week

The long-awaited survey of the disputed Migingo Island is set to begin on Tuesday.

The exercise kicks off after a team of experts from Kenya and Uganda, who were tasked to carry out the survey to determine where the island is located and mark out the two countries’ boundary, were given two months to come up with a report.

The survey was scheduled to begin immediately after Kenya’s Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula and Uganda’s Deputy Prime Minister Kirunda Kivejinja signed a joint communiqué on May 11.

The survey team is led by Kenya’s director of survey, Mr Ephantus Murage, and his Ugandan counterpart, Mr Justin Bwogi.

Public holiday

Mr Bwogi confirmed to the Saturday Nation that they were all set for the exercise. “Actually we intended to start the survey on Monday, but we have since been advised that June 1 is a public holiday in Kenya,” he said.
He said they would largely be guided by the Kenya Colony and Protectorate (Boundaries) Order in Council 1926, whose interpretation the Saturday Nation used to arrive at a conclusion about the island’s location.

This Order in Council that established the Kenya-Uganda boundary states that the boundary commences in the waters of Lake Victoria on a parallel 1° south latitude, at the point due south of the westernmost point of Pyramid Island and goes up to the centre of the mouth of the Sio River.

These descriptions are also contained in Kenya’s Constitution of 1963 and Uganda’s Constitution of 1995, which will also be used as reference materials. According to the Order in Council, most of the islands named are on the Kenyan side.

This, therefore, presupposes that Uganda might be interested in the survey not necessarily to locate where the island is, but to determine its boundaries in the waters for easy administration.

However, if that is the case, the Ugandan Government will have a herculean task to patrol the waters since their nearest land point will be hundreds of kilometres away.

Mr Bwogi said that their government had already made available money that would be required for building floating beacons to mark the boundary.

Asked if there were any other disputes, Mr Bwogi said: “There are no disputes. We are simply going to interpret the Order in Council of 1926 about the boundary description and build beacons. There are no other problems.”