Residents complain that outcome of mapping has never been announced

Six years after Kenya and Uganda carried out a joint survey to establish the ownership of Migingo Island, no official announcement of the outcome has ever been made.

Residents of the disputed island, most of them fishermen, are wondering what became of the survey, which they say seems to have stalled.

“The two governments no longer talk about completing the survey. Or are they comfortable with the status quo where Kenyan and Ugandan security forces are co-managing Migingo’s affairs?” asked Mr John Obunge, an official of the Migingo Beach Management Unit.

PAY FOR SURVEY

“We have relative peace but it might be a lull before the storm,” said Mr Obunge.

The two countries set aside Sh140 million for the survey, to determine the ownership of the densely populated one-acre island.

Although President Mwai Kibaki and his coalition partner Raila Odinga assured Kenyans that the island was in Kenyan territorial waters, they seem to have done little to push for the results of the survey.

The survey stalled after Ugandan surveyors pulled out midstream, ostensibly to consult their superiors in Kampala before the announcement of the final outcome.

Reliable sources said they did not want to be party to an announcement proclaiming the island was in Kenya for fear of reprisals from their government.

Mr Joseph Obala, who owns more than 50 fishing boats, said the island’s residents were eager to know to whom the island belongs.

ELUSIVE RESOLUTION

Migori County Governor Okoth Obado has said he will engage the national government in a bid to end the dispute.

“Kenyans cannot continue to suffer at the hands of Ugandan security officers manning the island,” he said.

Kenyan and Ugandan security forces are jointly managing the island as they await the elusive resolution of the row.

Kenya posted 12 armed officers, a majority of them from the Rural Border Patrol Unit.

Acting unit Commandant Peter Gikonyo said the officers would stay on the island until further notice.

“Our fishermen and traders are happy with our presence. We will not leave any time soon,” he said.

“We are working well with the Ugandans and things are relatively peaceful,” added Mr Gikonyo.

The decision to deploy the officers was made by a joint ministerial committee that comprised Kenyan and Ugandan ministers at bilateral talks in Nairobi in 2011.

Kenya was represented by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and Lands Minister James Orengo.

The Kenyan and Ugandan security officers live in makeshift structures that dot Migingo and the nearby Ugingo Island.

The owners rent out the structures for between Sh200 and Sh300 a day.

The area is flooded with sex workers from the region who are attracted by the huge amounts of money made by traders and fishermen whose families live on the mainland.

Alarmed by the situation, Kenyan health authorities have launched free HIV counselling and testing for residents.