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Parliament is calling on the national government to address the long-running boundary dispute between Kenya and Uganda.

This even as the lawmakers revived the push for a lasting solution to the Migingo Islands row, charging that the dispute has remained unresolved for many years.

Since the onset of the row over the ownership of the Island, successive governments including the late President Mwai Kibaki and his predecessor Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta doing little as many Kenya fishermen continue to face arrests and death at the hands of Ugandan security officers.

Nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri now wants President William Ruto’s administration to provide a report on the boundary delimitation of the area surrounding Migingo Island, clarifying the coordinates for the territory of Kenya in Lake Victoria.

“The committee should inquire and state the interventions made by both Kenya and Uganda so far to address the long-running boundary dispute between Kenyan and Uganda in Lake Victoria and the outcome of the same,” said Senator Okenyuri.

In the request for statement before the Senate committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign relations, Senator Okenyuri wants the government to come clear on the interventions they have towards finding a lasting resolution to the dispute which has been simmering since 2009.

According to Okenyuri, the boundary row has led to death of many Kenyans and as recently as this month, two Kenyan fishermen were killed by the Ugandan police despite the government saying the Island is in Kenya.

The first term lawmaker said the government should state the number of Kenyan fishermen whose economic livelihoods have been jeopardised by the Ugandan authorities in Lake Victoria through confiscation of the fishing gear and illegal arrests.

She further wants the Kenya Kwanza government to indicate the total number of fishermen killed in the last 10 years, on claims of illegal fishing in Ugandan waters.

Already National Assembly member Farah Salah (Fafi) has also asked the government to explain the measures they have taken to guarantee the safety of local fishermen undertaking commercial fishing in Lake Victoria and specifically those on Migingo Island.

Salah said the role of the regional community is to guarantee the safety and livelihood of local fishermen in both nations while working towards a peaceful resolution and preventing such problems in future.

“What measures are you taking to ensure that there is a resolution of the border and security concerns along Lake Victoria and in particular around Migingo Island?” Salah posed.

The boundary dispute between Kenya and Uganda arose in February 2009 when Kenyans living in the disputed region were required to purchase special permits from the Ugandan government.

Interestingly, the same year in March, the President Yoweri Museveni led Ugandan government proposed for the matter to be resolved by surveyors, a move Kenya rejected.

In his rejection, Kenya argued that the line the Ugandan authorities wanted drawn will put the island on their neighbour’s side yet available maps by the colonial governments and the military shows that Remba, Migingo and Pyramid islands are in Kenya.