Tension as Kenya deploys troops on Lake Victoria
Kampala.
Tension between Kenya and Uganda over fishing rights on Lake Victoria is rising again after Kenyan fishermen complained of harassment by Ugandan security.
Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i told NTV Kenya that they had deployed more security personnel on the lake to stop harassment and detention of their fishermen.
“We do not want any more suffering of Kenya fishermen on Lake Victoria,” Mr Matiang’i said after holding a security meeting in Nyanza, a region which covers part of the lake on the Kenyan side.
Last week, six Kenyan fishermen were arrested by Ugandan security officers on charges of illegal fishing in Ugandan territory.
Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania share Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the world.
Tanzania has the biggest portion (51 per cent) followed by Uganda (43 per cent) and Kenya with the smallest part (6 per cent).
The competition for dwindling fish resources has often seen fishermen of either country crossing the porous marine boundary line.
Mr Matiang’i said Kenyan forces have been carrying out reconnaissance on the water body.
“When our people go for their fishing activities, they are arrested. In the near future, people are going to realise that we have a proper security apparatus,” Mr Matiang’i said.
He said they have already met Ugandan officials about the situation on Lake Victoria.
Uganda’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Okello Oryem, said he was not aware of the meeting, saying it would have been attended by his Internal Affairs counterpart, Gen Jeje Odongo.
Efforts to get a comment from Gen Odongo were futile as our calls went unanswered.
Fishermen in Namayingo District have also previously complained about high cases of theft of boat engines and fishing gears by suspected Kenyan nationals but say it is hard to extradite them to Uganda to face the law.
More disputes
In August 2016, former police chief, Gen Kale Kayihura, and his Kenyan counterpart, Mr Joseph Boinnet, visited the disputed Migingo Island in Lake Victoria and set up a joint coordination centre to reduce incidents that can spark tension between the security officers of the two countries. They also agreed that officers from each country handle criminal cases of their nationals in accordance with the criminal justice system of his or her respective country.
In October 2016, a Ugandan trader on Migingo Island was killed and his body dismembered before it was dumped in Lake Victoria. The suspects have never been caught.
