Migingo Island issue will be taken to International Court of Justice, says Orengo.

 Leader of Minority in the Senate James Orengo greets Nasa Leader Raila Odinga when he arrived for the funeral ceremony of the late Migori Senator Ben Oluoch Okello in Migori on Monday this week.Orengo has said the issue of Migingo Island border dispute should be taken to International Court of Justice to help solving it-Photo By Teddy Oyoo.

By Dickson Odhiambo

July 11, 2018.

Migingo Island issue will be taken to International Court of Justice, says Orengo.

SIAYA County Senator and Leader of Minority in the Senate James Orengo say the issue of the disputed Migingo Island pitying Kenya and Uganda should be taken to International Court of Justice.

Orengo says by doing this it will help to solve the border dispute that has occurred between the two states for a while.

Speaking in Migori County during the burial of Senator Ben Oluoch Okello, Senator Orengo said Kenya has enough evidence to show that the disputed Island is in Kenya and not in Uganda.

Orengo says at one point Cameroon and Nigeria had a border dispute between them and the issue was taken to International Court of Justice and the issue was resolved in that Court which ruled that the border that was in disputed belonged to Cameroon.

“I believe we have enough evidence to support our stand that Migingo Island is in Kenya hence the need for us as a country to take this matter to International Court of Justice,” Orengo says.

He says that it was quite unfortunate that Kenyan fishermen within the Island are constantly being harassed by the Ugandan security forces manning it thus it is now time this should come to an end.

Migingo Island which is largely believed to be in Migori County within Kenya come to public limelight in the year 2009 when Kenyan fishermen begun complaining of harassment by the Ugandan Security Personnel manning it after camping there in the year 2004 on issues of fighting piracy within the Lake Victoria.

The row on the disputed tiny Island of Migingo erupted around 2009 when the Kenyan fishermen were being harassed by the said Uganda security forces manning it where their fishing gears were allegedly confiscated and they were also said to be forced to eat raw fish they had caught in the Lake Victoria which the Ugandan security forces claimed that is in their territory.

During that time, even Journalists who were going to the Island to do stories on the plight of the Fishermen there were not spared either and were arrested by the Uganda Security forces but later released upon intervention by Kenyan state.

Uganda Security Forces used to hoist the Ugandan flag within the Island.

Around the year 2010, both Kenyan and Ugandan Governments committed shs 140million for a survey to determine the border where Migingo Island lies whether it is in Kenya or Uganda.

The findings of the survey by the two countries which are member states of the East African Community {EAC} are yet to be made public.

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