By Joe Ombuor

It is a lawless haven for contraband, has no regular police force, and drug barons call the shots.

Gunrunners go about their business with abandon, and traffickers run the show unperturbed across the Kenya-Uganda border.

Here, the phrase "protection for sex" assumes an awesomely undistorted meaning. Women sell chang’aa, bhang and other drugs openly, provided they can give sexual favours to police who let them free in return.

Sitting on the blue waters of Lake Victoria, Remba is one of the little-known Kenyan islands where authority is a strange word.

An honest day’s job: The hustle and bustle of life in Remba

Criminals and tax evaders have pitched tent here, safe in the knowledge local administrators have been compromised and Government has no clout.

Remba is Dholuo for "my blood." Ironically, locals say innocent blood has been spilled and the sweat of the brow has gone down the drain.

Illegal Somali immigrants who have bought their way there have run away with the fish business, residents say.

The island is located halfway between the giant Mfangano and the now famous Migingo and is indisputably in Kenya. However, Ugandan fishing barons use their money as a protective shield against greedy Kenyan provincial and police authorities.

Security arms

Remba falls under Mbita District where it is said the two key

Government security arms (provincial administration and the police) are entangled in illegal business with Ugandans and unscrupulous Kenyan business people who have become untouchables after securing themselves with money.

Peculiarly, the maintenance of law and order has been left to Administration Police. However, the APs who work alongside the provincial administration are said to be compromised.

"Those who deal in contraband and brews pay a fixed monthly fee of Sh2,000 per month to secure their businesses. Those dealing in more than one commodity pay more. The situation is terrible," said a police source, who asked not to be named.

Fishermen display their catch on the island.

One reported case of gun-running left residents stunned. On August 31, last year, eight Ugandan nationals visited Ugandan fishing baron. The visitors were allegedly in possession of eight AK 47 assault rifles.

No sooner did the report reach the provincial administrators than the eight were evacuated to an unknown destination.

"The firearms were loaded onto a boat that headed for Sindo on the main land," said a source.

Handsome fees

The baron owns a beach on the island and has a fleet of about 60 fishing boats and a refrigerated vessel that ferries fish to Kisumu.

She is alleged to be responsible for the harassment of Kenyan fishermen by Ugandan marine who she hires from Migingo Island from time.

Reliable sources claimed her work permit expired last December but she goes about her business with impunity, thanks to handsome protection fees.

Equally notorious is one Godfrey Mayanja, a Ugandan fishing tycoon recently arrested by Kenyan immigration authorities for operating without a valid work permit and repatriated with orders not to step in Kenya for three months.

A Kisumu court fined him Sh150, 000 for the offence.

The senior policeman said most of the boats in one of the beaches are owned by illegal Somali and Ethiopian immigrants. The immigrants have found their way to the Island and other Lake Victoria beaches after fraudulently obtaining Kenyan identity cards.

Prior to his arrest and repatriation, Mayanja had operated for five years without a valid work ticket. He today sneaks into the island from Lolwe Island in Uganda under the protection of Ugandan marines hired from nearby Migingo.

Fishermen we talked to in Remba accuse Mayanja of using Uganda marines to hijack their boats. They cite a recent incident where 70 tonnes of fish confiscated from Kenyan fishermen in the guise that they had strayed into Ugandan waters ended in Mayanja’s custody at a fee.

The land yonder: Migingo’s uninhabited island visible from Remba island. Fishermen say they are at the mercies of criminals who routinely harass them. Photo: James Keyi/ Standard

The incident prompted Suba District Beach Management Unit Network chairman Mr Ooko Otieno to write a complaint letter to District Commissioner Francis Komen with copies to other members of the security committee.

Running away

Residents are calling on the Government to post regular police to the Island. They say the administration police have been compromised into inaction.

While Ugandans are harassing and exploiting Kenyans, Somali immigrants are running away with fish business.

The Winam Co-operative society is a Somali affair with a few locals incorporated as camouflage.

The Administration Police security on the island, numbering about 10 has been accused of turning a blind eye to the illegal activities on the island where they enjoyed protection fees and sex for protection.

Law and order remains a pipe dream for the 600 inhabitants, majority of whom are Kenyans eking out a living from fishing for which the Somalis and the Ugandans pay them a pittance. Remba falls under Mfangano location, two and a half hours by boat across the lake.

Complaints of insecurity and illegal activities led to the transfer of the entire Administration Police squad on the Island recently with corresponding transfers of the district commissioner and other security personnel at Mbita.

The new acting local AP boss, Mr Anthony Sosi, has vowed to clean up the mess left by his predecessors.

"The situation is bad, but I will correct past ills," Soti said.

Nonetheless, Ugandan boats ferry in illegal goods from as far as Congo without being subjected to security checks. Chang’aa from Uganda arrives on a boat every Tuesday while bhang comes from the Kenyan mainland on Mondays. Soti has sworn to ensure the illegal trade ceases.

Remba Island Beach Management Chairman, Mr Nicholas Odhiambo says although the business is ongoing, the traffickers are not as bold as they used to be.

Revenue backbone

"We can say the situation has somehow improved since chang’aa and bhang used to be loaded openly under the eyes of police officers who shamelessly pocketed protection fees unfazed as people watched," he said.

The Island remains a sanitary mess in spite of its status as the revenue backbone of Suba County Council. About Sh2 million circulate on the island daily.

The council collects one shilling for every kilogramme of fish landed but has constructed only one public toilet with seven doors for the population.

The lake, which is the only source of water, is an open toilet to many residents.

The Island that was uninhabited until the late 1960s, was used as grazing ground for livestock. Ugandans first arrived there in 1994.