By Joe Ombuor
It is hard to understand how a government can watch while another country invades its territory. Why is Uganda annexing Lake Victoria islands that have always been part of Kenya ? Is it because President Yoweri Museveni thinks Kenya has no interest in them?
What else explains the impudence, invasion and regular arrest of Kenyan fishermen?
Apart from Migingo, Remba and Ringiti islands are also under threat. At this rate, Kenya may soon be without Mfangano Island. The Government has contributed considerably to the mess. Some time in the early 1990s, when Mr Ndolo Ayah took over the Foreign Affairs ministry, something strange happened.
In a bid to stem Uganda’s onslaught on Kenyan islands, Peter Habenga Okondo — then Labour minister and MP for Budalang’i — visited Sigulu Island and hoisted the Kenyan flag there. Uganda had laid claim to it.
Okondo’s brave gesture elicited diplomatic row between Kenya and Uganda. But what did the Government do? Ayah issued a ministerial statement from Nairobi disowning the island inhabited by Kenyans. He said the island was Uganda’s and criticised Okondo for creating unnecessary friction between the two states. It was a diplomatic disaster with far reaching consequences.
He said Wayasi and Hama islands, which had been under Kenya administration, belonged to Uganda. That careless handling of territorial dispute marked the worsening of trouble for Kenyan fishermen. Uganda went ahead to secure the disputed islands.
Ndolo’s statement also gave Museveni the courage to grab more Kenyan territories, including Migingo and Remba islands.
How much more territory will Kenya cede to Uganda before the Government intervenes? Already, Kenyan fishermen are being arrested in Migingo. They are robbed of their fish and fishing gears by Ugandan soldiers. Kenyan authorities only talk of dialogue and make pleas for the release of the fishermen.
If nothing is done to stop the Ugandan invasion, Kenya will remain without a single island in Lake Victoria. Ugandan soldiers terrorise Kenyans on the islands and venture all the way to mainland beaches with little or no resistance from Kenyan security forces. Successive regimes since independence are largely to blame due to neglect of individuals living on the shores of the lake. That neglect is manifested in the absence of major roads in the region. Lwanda K’Otieno beach, an important fish-landing site on Lake Victoria, has had poor roads for many decades.
With electricity also lacking, coolers could not be built to preserve the fish. The two factors have led to the exploitation of fishermen by middlemen, leaving them condemned to perpetual poverty.
Museveni seems to be exploiting that neglect to claim territory that has always been Kenyan and convert desperate Kenyans into Uganda citizens. They cannot not understand why the Government surrendered them to Ugandan authorities.
SOURCE: http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144002644&cid=4&
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Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:18:05 +0300 [12/26/2008 08:18:05 PM CST]
From: Robert Alai
Subject: How much more territory will Kenya cede to Uganda before the State intervenes?