Raila affirms Migingo Island belongs to Kenya

By Renson Buluma

SAMIA, Kenya_Prime Minister Raila Odinga has maintained that the disputed Migingo Island in Lake Victoria belongs to Kenya.

 He was reacting on statements made by local civic leaders led by councillor David Okado of Bwiri ward and Ojiambo Obada of Samia South who called on the Government to come clear on the ownership of Migingo, Ugingo, Sumba and Sigulu Islands so as to relief fishermen from continuous harassment by the Ugandan authorities in the lake.

"Migingo Island is ours and we shall not cede even an inch of it to foreigners," affirmed the Prime minister.

Speaking at Bumbe Beach during Samia Cultural and Sports festivals in Samia District, Raila said the island is on the Kenyan territory adding Kenya is not ready to lose even an inch of it to Uganda.

Present at the event were Sports Minister Paul Otuoma, Raila’s wife Ida, director of Youth Enterprise Fund Susan Mangeni, Samia DC Joseph Rotich and several civic leaders and parliamentary aspirants from Busia County.

Raila said Sigulu and Sumba Islands hosts a number of Kenyan communities like Banyala, Samia and Luos who live and operate small businesses while others work as fishermen.

He said he escaped arrest during the KANU reign by sneaking through Sigulu Island where he was served with travel documents by Kenyans living on the island.

"When I was escaping to avoid being jailed for the fourth time. I came through Sigulu where I met several Kenyan communities who are majority on this Island and I was given Uganda documents which allowed me to walk freely as a Ugandan because I had a Uganda identification card," said Raila.

He said he recently met Uganda president Yoweri Museveni in Busoga, Uganda where he discussed various issues related to security of Kenyans at the lake and also the disputed ownership of the islands.

"I told him Uganda had the biggest share of Lake Victoria waters and they should desist from harassing our people at the lake," said Raila.

He however reiterated the need for the country to strengthen the existing relationship with the neighbouring countries in the East Africa Community.

He said negotiations are underway between leaders from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to remove the boundaries so as to allow people to work and move freely within member States.

Otuoma said there is need for a peaceful coexistence between communities living around the lake including those from Uganda.

"Unless we acknowledge and recognise our brothers from other communities we live with, we may not be able to utilise fully the resources at the lake," noted Otuoma.

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