Migingo row: Kenya now claims Busia
Risdel Kasasira & Mercy Nalugo
Kampala
The border wrangles between Kampala and Nairobi have taken a new twist with a
Kenyan legislator suggesting that parts of Uganda’s Busia District belongs to
Kenya.
Ikolomani MP, Boni Khalwale, was quoted by Daily Nation newspaper to have
supported the unilateral declaration by Kenyan surveyors that the rocky Migingo
outcropping on Lake Victoria is within Kenyan territory.
“The survey also indicated that Busia constituency in Uganda belongs to Kenya.
This development has alarmed the Ugandan government that she has decided to
withdraw her experts,” the paper quoted the MP as saying, adding: “The
President [Mr Kibaki] should make a tour of the disputed land, hoist a flag and
have Kenyan administration police based there.”
The claims, made on Sunday, could stoke further trouble for diplomats working
quietly to defuse the tension caused by recent media reports that President
Mwai Kibaki had told a rally in western Kenya that they won the contested
Migingo.
Earlier, Nairobi and Kampala agreed to resolve the border dispute amicably
though a joint border verification exercise but the technocrats abandoned work
midway after differing on the procedure for conducting assignment.
As the Ugandan surveyors returned for consultations in Kampala, as agreed under
the initial accord between Presidents Museveni and Kibaki, their Kenyan
counterparts went home declaring the island theirs.
However, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa told Parliament yesterday that he
had formally written to his Kenyan counterpart, Mr Moses Wetangula protesting
the Kenya’s premature ownership claim over Island.
“Kenyans are putting the cart before the horse,” Mr Kuteesa said, “As far as I
know, there is a joint border survey taking place between Uganda and Kenya to
establish where Migingo falls. There is no way Kenya can say they have
concluded the joint survey.”
Samia Bugwe North, a constituency that borders Kenya, was formerly represented
in the 7th Parliament by Uganda’s current Information, Communication and
Technology Minister Aggrey Awori, whose brother Mr Moody Awori, was until last
year the Kenyan vice President.
Authorities in Uganda yesterday described Kenyan MP Khalwale’s proclamation as
“useless day dreaming.”
Mr Daniel Omara Atubo, the Land Minister, said the MP’s populist talk is
“useless ping pong” because Uganda can only be bound by a joint decision of
technocrats “not sentiments of a few politicians.”
MP Sarah Mwebaza, whose Samia Bugwe Constituency is being claimed by the Kenyan
law maker, said: “The western part of Kenya is Jaluo land and people there
speak Luo, but in Busia District they are Bantu. So that means they are
supposed to be in Uganda.”
In a separate interview, the Ministry of lands spokesperson, Mr Dennis Obo said
the Kenyan team that initially claimed to have finalized the border survey
exercise, are now requesting for more time to “finish consultations” with their
government. The exercise, he said, is expected to resume next week and be
completed within a fortnight.
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