Ugandan security officers on Monday stormed and closed down as a Kenyan school that has been put up by the local administration in Migingo through a partnership with the area residents.
Migingo Sub-location Assistant Chief Esther Masaku had initiated the project to help families have access to education for their children living at the island that has been at the center of a series of rows between Kenya and Uganda.
Masaku confirmed that the Ugandan officers stormed the two-weeks-old nursery school claiming it was wrongfully put up on the island.
[caption caption="Activities at Migingo island "]
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The officers reportedly closed down the school noting Migingo does not belong to Kenya and as such as Kenyan schools could not be established on their land. The authorities argued that the presence of the school on Migingo would be an indication that the area belongs to Kenya.
Masaku stated that they complied with the officers' move to eject the children and close the school so as to avoid confrontations between Kenya and Uganda authorities.
She said confrontations would interfere with the peace in the area given people from the two countries live on the island.
She, however, decried the move to shut down the institution which he says left the young children’s education hanging in the balance. She told local media that only a few children in the area access education across the lake in Muhuru Bay where their parents have been forced to rent houses for their accommodation.
Early this month, Ugandan officers held 3 Kenyan police officers and four fishermen after arresting them in Mageta and Hama islands.
Witnesses told Kenyan authorities that Ugandan Defense Force officers ambushed the three officers and disarmed them thinking they were fishermen.
[caption caption="Siaya County residents protest mistreatment of Kenyans by Ugandan officers "]
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It took the Siaya County Commissioner Jacob Narengo and the county commandants intervention to have the officer released after being detained in Uganda for several hours.
Siaya County Administration Police Commandant Patrick Lumumba had indicated that the incident involved up to eight soldiers on patrol.
"Our officers were overpowered by the heavily armed attackers who lay an ambush on the officers who assumed they were civilians and fishermen," held Mr. Lumumba.
