Is it true Migingo Island in Kenya but waters in Uganda?

The truth about Migingo is simpler than most of us think. The plain truth is just as Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni once said that, “Migingo Island is in Kenya, but the water is in Uganda". And that is where the problem begins.

Every country needs taxes and at every border crossing between Kenya and Uganda you will have revenue officers from both countries. The Kenyan side taxes goods entering Kenya from Uganda and on the Ugandan side, goods going to Uganda.

The problem comes when you have a border point that runs on the lake. Now you cannot set up a revenue collection point on the water. On Remba Island (which is in Kenya) on Lake Victoria, the Kenya Government has allowed the Ugandan authorities to set up a revenue point so that they can collect revenue for goods heading to Uganda from Kenya. The border there runs on water. The Ugandans acknowledge that Remba Island is in Kenya.

Fishermen like pastoralists usually do not have a permanent stay on the lake. They move from lake shore to lake shore according to fish migration. You would find fishermen from Kisumu all the way in Rusinga Island and on a different month find them again in Asembo bay another month and then later on in the year you will find them in Migingo. Just like you would see Maasais moving with cattle from Kenya to Ngorongoro in Tanzania and back.

Migingo was uninhabited for years as fishermen only came there seasonally depending on fish migration.

Migingo Island has these hollows underneath it that make it a primary breeding ground for fish. Tonnes and tonnes of fish can be caught there in a day, because of this and depending on where you live, calculate the cost of one fish. Now calculate the cost of one tonne of fish. The tussle at Migingo has everything to do with money.

The island is in Kenya but the waters are in Uganda. This means that if Kenyan fishermen catch fish there, they are actually fishing in Uganda and Museveni demands his bite of the cake (taxes).

But how can he collect taxes if he is in the water? He then has to come to a landing site to collect the taxes. It happens that the nearest landing site happened to be the Kenyan Island Migingo. Fishermen being migratory, Kenya had not deployed any security personnel to Migingo Island, as it was uninhabited. Museveni's officers then decided to set up base and tax the fishermen.

Years later, this is where we stand. Kenyan authorities need to state the true position and grant Museveni taxation privileges as necessary so that we live in peace.

After Museveni dumped us for Tanzania in the pipeline deal, I fail to understand why Uhuru Kenyatta is still running after him like a little puppy. Kenya needs to realize that it is the USA of East Africa.  We should firmly state our position and stick to it even if it means corking our guns. Uhuru Kenyatta should realize that Museveni is slowly descending out of power and is not as significant a leader to Uganda as before.