Grandma Died Ripe and Happy at 90, She Didn’t Cry

MY grandmother (paternal) died last week. She died in hospital. She was about 90, but she didn’t have any health condition. She just died, in Abim District Hospital after being admitted there and taken good care of for a fortnight. She died of natural causes, a case of old age.

Last year, we (her grandchildren) decided to build for her a decent house so as to bolster her protection. We knew that comfort would keep her less stressed and prolong her life, because she didn’t have any known medical disorder. Unfortunately, the old woman passed on after sleeping in her new home for only a week. May her soul rest with the Angels.

My grand-mom’s death was slightly similar to that of her husband who retired (to heaven) five years ago. He equally didn’t present any medical disorder, but we thought his was propelled by excessive consumption of alcohol. He never signed a divorce document with waragi (crude alcohol) until he flew away (to heaven).

Surprisingly, grandfather’s death didn’t give him pain. He only harvested the inconvenience of walking easily when he got multiple dislocations caused by falling down time and again after drinking his thing. When he died, he already had strained unrepairable muscles and tissues, but he didn’t cry of pain. He would only cry for his drink when we visited him. So, he died softly, like taking a long, deep sleep lasting forever. May his soul rest with the Angels.

On the day we were burying grandfather, we feared that her elder wife(grandma) would not stay longer. She looked very fragile. She was as brittle as an old woman who got beaten mercilessly and dumped along the road to die painfully on her own. We knew that it was simply the weight of her husband’s death pressing her, hard. Anyway, she endured and with the charm of her daughters and sons, she remained strong and got even stronger with time. Thank God, she had clean blood, -with no chronic condition at all.

Grandmother was a very hopeful old woman who even made personal savings from her Social Protection earnings given by Government.  When we were building her house, she would ask us to be open to her in case we run shot of funds.

“I can contribute, it’s my own house, just let me know”, she would tell us. She was a woman of very few words, a shy woman who only expressed her emotions through plain countenance.  Her wide natural smiles would constantly expose her well-spaced, large teeth. We will continue having strong memories of her in our minds because she lived a simple, quiet and non-violent life.

During last year’s Christmas festival, I had the last moment with grandmother including making her interact with great grandchildren at home. It was nice mixing for her a drink and observing her animated comment that made her look like an adolescent girl.

Now that she is deceased, I realize that spending all forms of resources on elderly people is no wastage. It satisfies the doer emotionally and gratifies the receiver of care.

Elderly people need more support than we most times think. They need coordinated care involving constant presence of a physician and someone to keep them clean always. They require invariable amount of social inclusion to keep them off isolation and its resulting emotional distress. So when we have children, let’s have them play near our elderly people to keep them cheerful and worriless. It’s good to die when ripe and happy.

www.owiny.blogspot.com 

Why Africa is Poor and Underdeveloped Compared to Rest of the World

Robert Emmanuel Owiny ( reflection 2020) 

AFRICA is the second largest Continent in the world after Asia. This is based on geographical coverage and population size.  It is home to an estimated one billion people who occupy about 20% of the total land area. Located at the centre of the earth, Africa is largely made up of tropical climate and comprises 54 countries. The proportion of the population of Africa living in family units with expenditure or income per individual below the poverty line has been on the decrease since 1990 (World Bank 2007)

Poverty is a complex phenomenon that generally refers to inadequacy of resources and deprivation of choices that would enable people to enjoy decent living conditions (United Nations Human Development Report, 1998).  Meanwhile the World Bank, (2000), says, “Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being.”

Generally, poverty refers to a deficiency or lack of basic human needs such as food, shelter, etc. in a society.  Poverty indicators includes; lack of income and productivity, insufficient resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition, ill-health, limited or lack of access to education and other basic services, homelessness or inadequate housing, unsafe environment. Social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by a lack of participation in decision and in civil, social and cultural life (Ashaver et al 2013). In its most extreme form, poverty is a lack of basic human needs to sustain as useful and working efficiency such as adequate and nutritious food, clothing, housing, clean water and health services (Korankye: 2014)

Underdevelopment on the other hand denotes an economic state characterised by exceptionally low living standard by majority population as a result of an equally low per capita income level due to low levels of productivity versus high population growth rates. The causes of underdevelopment are not limited to the core factors in the standard economic framework, but psychological, social, and cultural factors are fundamental factors (World Bank, 2015)

Despite the widely known nature’s endowments of Africa, a number of challenges have rendered the continent poor and rated as the most underdeveloped compared to rest of the World.

Generally, 45% of people living below $ 1 a day are in Sub Saharan Africa. The poverty situation data also depicts country variations with; Uganda, Mali, Nigeria, Zambia, Niger, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Rwanda having more than 50 percent of their population living below $ 1 a day in 2002. The sub-region also records more rural poverty than urban poverty with 37 percent of the population in the rural areas living below two-third of their national mean per capita income (World Bank 2007).

Poverty and underdevelopment in Africa is caused by a number of issues such as; corruption and poor governance, poor land utilisation and land tenure system, civil wars and unending political conflicts, poor infrastructure, diseases and poor health facilities, the World Bank and IMF policies, among others (Korankye: 2014).

To dig deeper, Africa’s key challenges that cause the interminable poverty and persistent underdevelopment compared with the rest of the world includes among others:

The effects of conflicts. Civil wars and terror incidences are destructive to wealth accumulation and development initiatives and yet Africa has suffered and still experiences a number of conflicts in different countries. This partly is responsible for making the continent remain poor and underdeveloped.  Most countries in Africa are notorious for civil wars, either between neighbouring countries or within the same country. Such incidences render war zones unproductive, in addition to scaring away investment that would otherwise help foster economic development and create employment, which would help people get out of poverty (Korankye: 2014).

In oil rich Nigeria; Boko Haram insurgency has not only caused over 100,000 deaths, but affected the social economic progress of that West African Country. Other countries with critical insurgencies include; Somalia and South Sudan. Wars disrupt businesses, cause sporadic migration, leads to abandonment of professions and jobs, discourages foreign investment, causes food scarcity and dehumanizes people. These attracts poverty to Africa compared to other parts of the World.

Corruption is yet another chronic disease that affects Africa’s steady development and pushes huge population of Africans to the wall of poverty. Few individuals especially within government and politics divert to personal accounts heavy chunks of public funds meant for addressing development needs such as; improving livelihoods, enhancing infrastructure, improving health or strengthening education. This is responsible for the unequal distribution of resources and poor infrastructures in the continent.

“Dishonest and heartless African leaders are responsible for auctioning and or mortgaging the economic base of their countries for their personal gains. Some of these leaders divert money borrowed from International Financial Institutions and developed countries for developmental projects into their private pockets”, (Tazoacha: 2011).

Land mismanagement. Africa has large and productive land that could steer economic development; provide enough food for both consumption and exports, effectively support infrastructural advancements such as better road network, better institutions and support industrialisation. However, the land is poorly managed and as such, few people gain from it while majority lose out. Most African nations have very poor land registration systems, making squatting and land theft common occurrences. This makes it difficult to get a mortgage or similar loan, as ownership of the property often cannot be established to the satisfaction of financiers.

“In most African countries, people own vast land that are underutilised or sometimes not even used at all. This is partly because they are either not educated on what to do with the land, or because some people are just stuck in their rudimentary ways of doing things. Some people just use the land to grow crops which are just enough for subsistence survival. Nothing goes to the market for sale. This is a contributor to poverty in Africa,” (Korankye: 2014, page 152)

Challenges of diseases. The health infrastructure system in Africa is weak and this guarantees poor health condition of most people, thus affecting economic performance because unhealthy human capital cannot work effectively. Equally more investments are diverted to treat diseases rather than deploy it to bolster economic growth and development. Impediments caused by Malaria, HIV/AIDS, cancer among other diseases puts the continent at the losing end compared to the rest of the world. According to the UN, the vast majority of people living with HIV are located in low- and middle- income countries, with an estimated 25.5 million living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among this group 19.4 million are living in East and Southern Africa which saw 44% of new HIV infections globally in 2016, (UNAIDS 2017)

Foreign aid. Most, if not all African countries are tied off by donor/developed countries through foreign aid. On the surface, aid appears like a positive initiative for Africa and yet it is in fact a draining tube for Africa’s potential. According to a report by Health Poverty Action, “While $134 billion flows into the continent each year, predominantly in the form of loans, foreign investment and aid; $192 billion is taken out, mainly in profits made by foreign companies, tax dodging and the costs of adapting to climate change. The result is that Africa suffers a net loss of $58 billion a year. As such, the idea that we are aiding Africa is flawed; it is Africa that is aiding the rest of the world.” Furthermore, aid funds are largely misappropriated by corrupt government officials in Africa, e.g. the GAVI fund scandal in Uganda. Such ‘technical irregularities’ weakens the economic potential of Africa, thus rendering the continent poor and underdeveloped.

Foreign aid dependency inhibits economic development or mobilisation of domestic resources it undercuts countries’ ability to chart their own development strategies, which is what is needed if development is to really take root. It does this by reducing developing countries policy autonomy, undermining recipient governments’ accountability to their own citizens, and making it harder for them to plan development programmes due to its unpredictability (ActionAid 2011)

Geopolitics. Despite the glaring structural challenges Africa has also been stepped on by European powers for several centuries. For instance, slave trade disorganised the human resources in Africa let alone creating a depopulation of the continent and inflicting injuries and pain on the black people. At the same time there is continuous exploitation of Africa’s resources which end up being repatriated to developed countries at the expense of African countries and people. In the nineteenth century, the slave trade was replaced by direct colonial rule and a century of exploitation by European imperial powers, who left very little behind in education, healthcare, and physical infrastructure. Adding to the burden, during the Cold War politics of the late twentieth century, many African countries found themselves to be battlegrounds in a global ideological struggle. (McCord et al, 2005)

Illiteracy barriers. Education or level of literacy plays a fundamental role in propelling development and yet most African countries significantly fall short of this.  Illiteracy has remained an ulcer on the foot for development in Africa. It is one of the impediments that have not enabled Africa to achieve sustainable development. It is one of the forces turning the wheel of sustainable development in Africa anticlockwise. From the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCS) 1997 selected human development indicators, we will notice that some African countries still fall below 40% of adult literacy. These are Niger 14%, Somalia 24%, Mali 31% Sierra Leone 31%, Senegal 33%, Guinea 36%, Ethiopia 36%, Benin 37%, Liberia 38% (Tazoacha,2001)

 “If a panacea is not sought for, Africa will remain vulnerable to underdevelopment, ignorance and insecurity”, Tazoacha points out. Thus the continent is underdeveloped and lags behind compared to other parts of the world due to the apparent low literacy level.

Infrastructure challenges. The challenge for Africa is to achieve regional integration of its infrastructure towards turning the continent’s geography of 54 separate countries into an economic and social advantage, (World Bank, 2014). Unlike other continents such as America, and Europe which heavily work through stable blocs with excellent infrastructure, Africa is highly fragmented, with a large number of landlocked countries and generally poor transport and communication infrastructure.  This is to the continent’s disadvantage in terms of trade efficiency, communication etc.

Environmental abuse. Destructive activities in Africa are also responsible for slowing down development effort in the continent. Deforestation caused by illegal logging, the felling of trees for firewood and charcoal for cooking, and “slash and burn” farming practices has reduced biodiversity in Africa, and weakened the ability to adapt to climate change. Yet this situation reflects the reality of energy insecurity in Africa in terms of increasing demand due to population growth and dwindling supply of traditional fossil fuels. Heavy reliance on non-renewable fuel sources for domestic energy supply in most of sub-Saharan Africa contributes to ecosystem degradation, which is threatening wildlife and endangered species, and destroys natural forests (Besada, et-al 2009).

In conclusion, Africa remains deeply impoverished and rated as the most underdeveloped continent compared to the rest of the world due to a number of factors. Some factors are man-made –politically bread while others are natural factors that need to be addressed today. Despite the available resources, much work is needed around policies, education and adoption of new technology if the continent is to improve and try to catch up with other continents.

References

World Bank (2015). World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society and Behaviour, Washington DC.

World Bank (2007). World Bank report on Poverty. New York. Oxford University Press.

World Bank (2014). Regional Infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities.

Ashaver, Benjamin Teryima (2013). Poverty, Inequality and Underdevelopment in Third World Countries: Bad State Policies or Bad Global Rules?

Francis Bordeaux, (2001). A Paper Presented at the Conference “Poverty and Sustainable    Development” Bordeaux, France.

Alex Addae-Korankye (2014). Causes of Poverty in Africa: A Review of Literature, American International Journal of Social Science Vol. 3, No. 7

UNAIDS data 2017

ActionAid Report (2011): Real Aid: Ending Aid Dependency

Gordon McCord, Jeffrey D. Sachs and Wing Thye Woo (2005) Understanding African Poverty: Beyond the Washington Consensus to the Millennium Development Goals Approach

Hany Besada and Nelson Sewankambo (2019) Special Report on Climate Change in Africa: Adaptation, Mitigation and Governance Challenges

https://avert.org/global-hiv-and-aids-statistics

Karamoja Cultural Event 2022, a Platform for Peace Brokerage

FROM August 30 to September 3, this year, the people of Karamoja will converge in the scenic Abim district for a cultural festival organized by the Karamoja Cultural Association (KCA). This is an annual event held rotationally within the nine Karamojong districts of: Karenga, Kaabong, Kotido, Abim, Napak, Moroto, Amudat, Nakapiripirit and Nabilatuk.  It was Amudat district that hosted the last chapter in 2019 before a sequential disruption by COVID-19 from 2020 to 2021 when the disease took control of the World.

This unique carnival attracts different Karamojong clusters beyond frontiers. Comrades from: North Western Kenya (Turkana, Pokot); South Western Ethiopia (Daasanach, Nyangatom); South-Eastern South Sudan (Toposa, Didinga) and North Eastern Uganda (Dodoth, Iik, Jie, Matheniko, Thur, Tepeth, Bokora, Pian, Pokot) fully participate. Other close associates of Karamoja like Iteso and Langi are also part of this Tobong Lore (come back home) event.

Attracting some 10, 000 people, the occasion is usually jam-packed with several activities that make it possible for these relatives to intermingle, appreciate and retell of their social cultural heritage and the need for continued coexistence amidst endless challenges of today.

Different traditional activities from the various clusters (Ateker) within the four Countries are performed; exhibitions; foods, clothes, games, stories, songs, poems, ritual items, peace negotiations characterize the Karamoja cultural week.

The theme for this year is, “Security in Karamoja; The Role of Culture and Traditional Mechanisms in Steering a Peaceful Karamoja”. This theme was deliberately chosen to open doors for discussing strategies for attaining peace in Karamoja by the Ateker.  It further hints on the taskforce to be entrusted with sustainable peace efforts in the region.  

Hitherto, the key decision makers in the Karamojong community are the traditional leaders, -the elders. They commission every activity whether good or bad. The youth (karacuna) cannot initiate or execute any risky activity such as cattle raids (ajore) without the consent and proper guidance of elders. The elders equally call the Karacuna to order when they see them go amiss.

The cultural event this year thus offers fertile ground for peace brokers to fortify efforts aimed at tapping the Karamojong elders off the conflict related knobs as the first and most critical step towards bringing peace, tranquility and development back to the region.  

The Karamojong have been killing each other and clashed with neighbors over livestock for over four decades now, - something that has obstructed their social economic transformation. This trend could change with constant activities that bring the Ateker together. Such activities can be integrated with a streamlined uniform resource distribution mechanism and steadied border security that abates unnecessary proliferation of arms.

Previous peace initiatives supported by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and other development partners quelled the fire exchange for some time, but the gains couldn’t be sustained due to survival pressures exacerbated by COVID-19 outbreak, the invasion of desert locusts and most recently the army worms that swept off most planted crops.

This year’s event in Abim is expected to trigger a big discussion around working together with different stakeholders for sustainable peace and development in the region. KCA’s idea of bringing the Karamojong clusters together should be commended because it aims at rebuilding and strengthening unity, peace and emboldening a patriotic Karamojong society through cultural activities.  This is the best way to start work that will sustainably placate this community.

Largely portrayed as the most regressive group across countries of their existence, the Karamojong have distinctive attributes to note.  First is resilience; they live in a setting deprived of adequate rainfall, making it tough generally for; man, livestock and vegetation to thrive. To this extent, these pastoralists see no option but to scramble for the limited natural resources; water, pasture and so they have remained nomadic and chaotic.

Secondly, Karamoja region is plagued with inexorable armed violence, diseases, hunger, infrastructural gaps and the lowest literacy level ranking.  The latest report by Uganda Bureau of Statistics(UBOS) rates Karamoja as the poorest with 85 percent of the 1.2 million people experiencing multidimensional poverty. These difficult conditions somehow force the Karimojong to make desperate, risky survival decisions such as cattle rustling and trade in arms.

The forthcoming cultural festival offers the best opportunity for peace actors, both Governments and NGOs to slot in strategic efforts aimed at paralyzing the current wave of insecurity in Karamoja. Key peace and development actors like the UN, IGAD, Government ministries and other NGOs need to take advantage of this event by offering technical and financial resources to facilitate sessions of peace dialogue involving the Karamojong cluster elders.

This article was also published in the New Vision News paper of Wednesday 31, August 2022 

Hook me up; Email: robowiny@gmail.com;  Twitter: @RobertOwiny3

Tumu the Man Who Saved an Idiot

ELEVEN days back, on a perfect weekend- Friday night, I stayed out in the chill longer than usual. It was during a mega event with my contemporaries.  There was prolonged sipping, talk, some dance and the lights heightened the reaction of the munchies extraordinarily. Here is my Story.

When time for rolling back home came, things turned out theatrical, yes and exceedingly so. A colleague who noticed how argumentative I had grown, offered to give me a lead-car support. His car ahead of me as we drove back home. I followed him with an extreme gig on the accelerator, - courtesy of Guinness, that thick aromatic Irish beer. Just know, it was hazardous!

This is a narrative of an Angelic intervention.  A thing rarely expected from a group largely perceived as disloyal. I had never appreciated any boda-boda rider in this country. Just know, these guys always made me sick. Until this day, I considered them as people who; respect no body, act stupid always, dupe their clients flat and are unjustifiably hysterical.  

My lead car soon disappeared in the thin air, just like that. I can’t explain what exactly happened. What I know is that my colleague had his own doze to deal with. So I found myself at a Total petrol station failing to position the car correctly so as to refill gas.  I requested the attendant to do for me two things; position the car well and fill up the tank after confessing that I was fully tanked-up.

A Ugsh20,000 note filled up my tank and there was a balance of Ugsh5,000 handed back to me. This is when I remembered that I had already taken enough gas in the morning ahead of a planned travel to the village that afternoon. I hadn’t anticipated getting this submerged.

There was a boda-boda rider who enjoyed my show at the petrol station. He kept a considerate gaze at me, as if I were his uncle. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t trust his look. Brownish, slender young man with a protracted nose, wide mouth. His so many large white teeth were visible at night. It was already a half past midnight and I desperately needed to get home safe. There was no traffic jam, and the few automobiles moved at breakneck speed, making it risky for a blotto.

“Why are you over looking at me like that my brother?” I asked the boda-boy. He responded with a smile and, “nothing sir”. I opened up to him and ask for a favor to ride ahead of me without allowing me go the wrong way. “Okay sir”, he agreed. His name is Tumu…something William, I can’t remember fully. Tumu stopped twice, hooting to guide me through until we reached home. Tumu opened the gate and closed with my instructions. He opened the house door and picked two laptops from the car putting them in the bedroom and asked for a negligible 2k for his service, but I offered 5k and gave him my number, to call me back when the sun is up.

Tumu hasn’t called me until now, I think he was an Angel from heaven.  I hope he lives down here with us. This reminds me of what English poet, William Blake said, “to generalize is to be an idiot”. Indeed, despite the criminal elements within the boda-boda riders today, I refuse to be idiotic by carrying all these guys in the same wagon again. People like Tumu are real saints who live amidst this wrongly projected fraternity. He saved my life. May God reward you Tumu wherever you are.

We Escaped Such Tough Times Through Mom

WE are in the middle of a school holiday time, here in Uganda, at least for learners attached to the Government guided schools. This period, (April, May and June) has also, always been a difficult time of the year. It is known to those of us who grew up surviving on home grown foods. Now parents are stressed; feeding the holiday makers and running around looking for fees ahead of the reopening of schools.

Even before factoring in the impact of COVID-19 and the current global economic recession conditioned by uncharacteristic upsurge in gasoline prices around the world, some of us already grew up knowing that months of; April, May and June are generally problematic annually.

Here was and still is my mom’s copping mechanism for these months: When we were young, my mom, a dedicated school teacher never relied 100% on her skimpy salary to support her family needs. Her side hustle has always been in the garden. Yes, and she’s still in the garden, toiling, fighting with the brownish hard soil of Abim.

Mom would slice and dry sweet potatoes and keep in bags ahead of the difficult times. My mom would also uproot, sort, boil and spread dry all types of leafy green vegetables including; peas (boo) and hibiscus cannabinus (amalakwang). Then when a penny hits her wallet after 30 days of breaking different colours of chalk, she would save in cereals, legumes so that December gets her with some 100 kilograms of beans at home. This way, she managed to feed her eight children (63% boys, 37% girls), meet family medical bills and pay our school fees.

Back then, mom preferred the tinny black and nutritious beans imported from Lango, Lira. This type of beans is cheap, very cheap, affordable. Boy, this is how madam managed to keep us alive, and to enable us grow. Yes, that’s why my face shines! We ate black beans from January to January without fatigue.  We fed on sorghum, boo, amalakwang, sweet potatoes, shea butter and related wild fruits.

Mom would also take advantage of family labour during school holidays such as this. I didn’t like the four kilometer walk to gardens behind those Abim hills of Morulem Sub County. I learnt how to use a hoe at age six. My mom put too much pressure on me and I thought she hated me. That wasn’t the case, she just wanted to build her children for the unpredictable future.

I wonder how easy it is today for us to compel our children to accommodate the type of life that some of us went through. A quick response from most of us including this author is, “I don’t have to make my children go through what I went through”. True, water doesn’t stagnate under the bridge, it has to drift away along with its load so as to pave way for a fresh flow coming with a new season, with new load.

I wonder what our children do these days during such long school breaks. How much garden work do our children help us with? Do we even think it is not child abuse to allow a child hold a hoe? How do they connect with society and how do they get friends? Methinks our children are enjoying a lot of protection, and they may not be able to see the need to change their current life. Our children have it, Laissez-faire.

Back then too, we had some gaps. In the youthful days of Itachi, Panasonic and Sony, some ‘spoilt’ children would organize village dance parties to allow them reconnect with friends from other schools. This is how some people ended up spotting their life-long spouses, but majority simply used such occasions for exploration. Today, the genuine soulmate hunters are settled as husbands and wives, but the explorers are still on flight.

Of Easter and the Conflict in Karamoja Today

WHAT a week! A holy week. It is that sacred period that Bible believers celebrate in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection from the tom after a miraculous three days of his crucifixion.  

Christians believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross on behalf of everyone on earth; including those who betrayed and killed him. His death was to wash away our sins and allow us have renewed life free from wickedness. A vivid account of this can be found in the books of Mathew 28, Mark 16 and Luke 24.

It was Mahatma Gandhi who summarized the events of Easter as that time when, “a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world".

Certainly, Easter period serves to animate Christians globally and to allow them develop renewed hope and faith in the face of sin believing strongly that victory is conceivable.  Thus, we must celebrate despite the challenges of; war, diseases, hunger, hatred, betrayal and sin that have bedeviled our societies. We must stick to the believe that victory is coming and that sin, bleakness shall dwindle.

**********                         **********                             **********                               *********    True is that today we live in an unpredictable time full of unusual occurrences. For us from Karamoja, every day is worth celebrating and giving thanks to the almighty because the current spate of insecurity there has seen our people lose lives and livestock on a daily basis. This hurts our people deeply because livestock is their main source of survival, and the deaths simply break hearts. 

Well, we shouldn’t lose hope but share our pains with God this holy week aware that he never fails and that the devil will not succeed.

Indeed, Satan is trying hardest to drug us into dirt; to frustrate our unity; We shouldn’t allow this. As Karamoja people, we can support government to help us eliminate the conflict but pointing fingers and promising hell for one another won’t help.

I repeat, the biggest problem of Karamoja is nothing but, hunger.  The unreliable rainfalls make it difficult to count on crop growing in Karamoja. Livestock is everything for the Karamojong and they need protection for these animals (cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats) to secure their future.  

Several attempts by NGOs and GoU to forge alternatives for cattle in Karamoja through multimillion dollar projects have failed and may never work if they don't focus on the real needs of these people. Failure to create livestock security at household will always make the Karamojong people feel insecure, thus risking their lives to go for raids just as they get hurt by the armed Turkana who enter our country and drive off livestock from the Karamojong.

Thus, a solution to the insecurity problem requires fixing permanently the food problem. Leaders should direct their efforts to supporting restocking, multiplication and protection of  animals in Karamoja. Without animals, life in Karamoja remains bleak.

The Karamoja Crisis Hasn’t Crossed the Rubicon

AFTER a decade (2009-2019) of relative peace and security in Karamoja, this beautiful semi-arid North-Eastern part of Uganda is back to the past life of fear and hopelessness created by the gun. It’s not easy to believe this, but that is it for now at least, although it’s not yet too late!

The history of guns in Karamoja has been traced back to 1979 when President Idi Amin Dada was ejected out of power and his soldiers fled, abandoning a fully stocked Moroto military barracks armory that later fell in the hands of locals.

Other sources trace the same to the colonial trade times of Allidina Visram in the 1900s when Abyssinian traders from Ethiopia penetrated into Karamoja with guns which they used to kill Elephants and extract Ivory. It is believed that when the population of Elephants reduced, the Abyssinian traders started dealing in guns and so the people of Karamoja embraced the practice.

Since then, just like it is in Turkana today, guns were openly sold and held by the communities in Karamoja even in the presence of security service providers not until some others started using it to commit grievous crimes that the restriction came. Otherwise, these guns were also important for protection of livestock which is the mainstay of the Karamojong.

The decade long peace in Karamoja came through negotiations and good coordination with local leaders; elders and the youth. Once convinced, the leaders in turn (especially elders) restrained the Karacuna (youth) from clinging to the practice of armed violence. Further resistance compelled government to conduct a forceful disarmament exercise in the region from 2001-2002 and 2006-2011.

Today, the region has fallen back to insecurity due to failure to maintain the disarmament gains. A number of peace projects implemented in the region, were either poorly designed to permanently address pertinent needs of the Karamojong, wrongly implemented, or didn’t have strong sustainability mechanisms. Subsequent livelihood aspects equally never transformed lives and so these people remained jostling for survival the hard way.

The disgruntlement started with few incidences when innocent travelers got killed along roads within Karamoja. Then the thugs formed themselves into gangs that would targeted livestock within towns and in their immediate neighborhood. Since most of these attackers remained at large, they grew confident but also their act irritated and inspired others to join in through revenge on, or amalgamating with the bad boys respectively.

More pressure on the Karamojong was exacerbated by the two years (2020-2021) of COVID-19 lockdown. There was also the invasion of locust that grounded planted crops thus, worsening the situation. Families couldn’t put food on the table.  Before we knew, a full raiding activity was back and; killings, cattle theft have now become the order of the day again. These people are simply looking for survival. I don’t think they simply wish to steal and kill people.

A number of commentators now argue that the UPDF has failed to address the Karamoja problem, with some calling on the Government of Uganda (GoU) to distribute guns to neighboring communities for self-protection.  This suggestion is the most dangerous as it will simply fuel more tribal/Ethinic clashes and the Karamojong will equally find ground to run for more guns from South Sudan and Northern Kenya. We don’t want to go back there because as it stands, the situation hasn’t crossed the Rubicon. The UPDF is capable of restoring peace in Karamoja in the short run by ensuring massive deployment both internally and across borders to reduce on further proliferation of arms.

For the long term; GoU and development partners need to speak louder/strongly to the problem of livelihoods for Karamoja by focusing on elevating every household in the region. Two things can do the trick; livestock empowerment for every household and offering free, comfortable and promising education where every educated Karamojong is employed. These will make Karamoja great forever.