Voter registration has resumed in the disputed Migingo Island in Lake Victoria.

This comes just two days after Kenya's Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) clerks arrested by Ugandan security officials were released.

The island in Lake Victoria measures just about an acre of land and is claimed by both Kenya and Uganda.

Kenyan fishermen and traders on the island heaved a sigh of relief on Friday after government officials announced that the voter enlisting exercise will continue as had been planned.

“I spoke to the Ugandan authorities and I reminded them that Migingo is a gazetted polling station in Kenya and there was no way we would suspend the important exercise,” said Mr James Namtala, the Migori Deputy County Commissioner in charge of Nyatike Sub-County.

Mr Namtala said he had spoken to regional security officials in Namaingo District in Uganda.

“Our police officers, who are co-manning Migingo with the Ugandan counterparts are under strict instructions to make sure peace prevails in Migingo during the exercise,” he noted.

Requested for permission

The Ugandan security forces had also confiscated the IEBC’s Biometric Voter Registration machine, claiming that the “foreigners had not requested for permission to carry out the activity.”

“We are treating the electoral body employees as foreigners because as far we are concerned, Migingo is part of Uganda.

“We are still waiting for green light from Kampala to allow them to enlist Kenyans working here,” one of the Ugandan police officers told the Nation on Tuesday soon after the arrest.

The IEBC clerks however stayed put at Migingo, hoping that the stalemate would be resolved immediately and they were later set free.

“We had asked the IEBC to bring us their officials to enlist us before the expiry of the mass voter registration period but we were shocked by the interference from the neighbours,” said Mr John Obunge, the chairman of the Migingo beach management unit.

“Although the ownership row has not been conclusively addressed by the Kenya and Ugandan authorities, Kenyan fishermen and traders living on the island deserve to be registered as voters,” said Mr Obunge.

In the last elections, IEBC created a polling station at the island following pressure from the locals and the fishermen got an opportunity to vote.

According to Mr Obunge, the island has about 500 fishermen and traders “whose right to vote should not disenfranchised”.

The fish-rich Island is currently being co-managed by the Kenyan and Ugandan security officers.

The Ugandan security team is estimated to be more than 20, including those in civilian clothing, while the Kenyan group is 12.

The two EAC countries have staked claim to the fish-rich island, a row that has lasted since 2002.