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.

Oulanyah’s Death and the Media in Uganda Today

REMAINS of the late Speaker of the 11^th Parliament of Uganda, Rt. Hon. Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah arrived back home today, this Friday 1^st of April. Oulanyah 56 died some 12 days ago at a US Specialized hospital of Seattle in Washington City.  He was also MP for Omoro County, Omoro district in Northern Uganda.

This magnanimous politician from Acholi land will be laid to rest next Friday 8^th at his ancestral home in Ayom-Lony village, Lalogi Sub-County, Omoro district. Oulanyah will enjoy a decent send off because of the position he held in the Country but also because of his national influence.  He is among other things credited for turning northern Uganda yellow and championing a national reconciliation agenda for the Country. Oulanyah envisioned a Uganda where the ruling and the opposition political parties work together. He believed that leaders ought to put interest of the Country ahead of those of their political organizations.  

The media has been crammed with both sentimental and cynical stories around Oulanyah; his suffering, his eventual demise and the politics of it.  This is going to dry up as soon as his casket is lowered into the ground. I also hope that Oulanyah’s burial will close the chapter of incomprehensible media stories about him.

The media today is quite terrifying than never before. They stretch one event until its original taste is altered. For a good story, they keep squiggling on it until it's blurred. They will drag the story from all ends until it turns chaotic, then it’s repaired a little and suddenly shut down forever.

In Uganda today, it’s no easy to come by stories that do deeper surgery on critical national issues. Somewhere else, the death of such a giant could have evoked media to do thorough analysis of previous speakers by citing significant moments and making valuable contrasts. These would help citizens to understand where we came from as a Country, where we stand and how tomorrow looks like.

Unfortunately our media has become so casual; they no longer trace historical facts in order to appreciate the present and guide on the future. In brief, most published stories are not well conjugated with archived facts.

Yes, in the case of Oulanyah’s sickness and death, our media really played phony. At first, they ran conjectures about the speaker’s condition, which impelled idle souls to protest against Government decision to save the speaker's life. This was unpatriotic to say the least.  

The media went on to do repair services as soon as the speaker was pronounced dead on 20^th March. This time, every publishing house lionized the deceased for his; intellect, devoutness, benevolence and professionalism.   Along the way, again the stories got mixed up with stones and mud. The burial budget was depicted unpleasantly; it demonized the innocent MPs from greater North where Oulanyah comes from.

Nonetheless, Oulanyah was celebrated by many Ugandans. People from; Churches, Mosques, Schools, Health centers, sporting arenas, entertainment and many more will miss Lanywen (Oulanya’s pet name). His supporters in Acholi tagged him so, I guess because of his intrepid character. A man who never gives up easily, a man who changes tactics until success is attained.

Unfortunately, death doesn’t die. We curse it every day, but death is immortal. So we can never celebrate death, but life. As the country goes on with the celebration of Oulanyah’s life for the next couple of days, I call unto the media to do more by taking advantage of archived information to weave better stories instead of limiting news to political statements and strange occurrences. May God grant Jacob everlasting life.

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What a Nasty 'Love Making' Spectacle!

THERE was that bloodcurdling rattle, that enraging, vexing bang to the opposite direction as soon as Nancy and I trod out of the pick-up-truck for some restorative window shopping inside a super market in the heart of Moyo, a town in Uganda’s West Nile sub region.

Frightened to the bones, I found myself stuck on this West Nile Queen as though I were her spoilt child. I grew up in the North and Karamoja at the peak of gun violence and so such a sound naturally brings back recollections of broad daylight cattle raiders or those bizarre arrivals of the Lord’s Resistance Army attackers. 

In the case of what perforated my nerves, such a terrifying sound would be instantaneously succeeded by screeches, and melees of; men, women and children looking for hide outs or temporal barricades against the scattering live ammunitions. This is how some of us grew up anyway, up there, far there.

Ashamed of what I was doing on this chilly morning and in the presence of people who seem unbothered, I let go of Nancy’s golden arm and slowly joined everyone by protracting my neck towards where the sound came from.  No panic registered here, no commotion, no more sound, just a build-up of people; quiet, agitated men, women and children.

Traffic was interrupted for some 10 minutes on this dusty marram street, yet not a voice could announce the problem. The point of attraction was an entangled lifeless body of a young man, a teen-ager held tightly to a SENKE motor bike that twisted itself on the boy like a living thing. “This is a love making spectacle”, I told myself.

It took stretched muscles of two fellow boda-boda men to unlock the seemingly enraged automobile from the boy and guess what! The boy’s eyes were alive and bright and streaming with clean tears; his neck could struggle hard but his limbs were dead.

There is something excess about the young men who drive motorcycles in most West Nile districts except Arua, the city.  The districts of; Moyo, Koboko and Yumbe take the day. Firsts, I noticed that at least 8/10 boda-bodas in these districts do not have driving (side) mirrors at all, we can't even talk of a driving license; second, they are always rushing even if they are going to a 100-meter destination. Most of them are always chewing something throughout the day, could this be some sort of drug? The other attribute shared with their colleagues countrywide is their right-of-way assumption. This kind of pointless impudence has killed many riders and including their innocent passengers.

World Health Organization estimates that road traffic accidents in Uganda account for close to 30% deaths per 100,000 people. Statistics at Mulago National Referral Hospital confirms that some five (05) to 20 victims of traffic accidents get admitted on a daily basis and that 41% of these victims are linked to boda-boda. A study by Makerere University School of Statistics and Planning established that 32.5% of motorcyclists use alcohol or psychoactive drugs while on duty; moreover 54.6% of the boda-boda men learnt how to ride casually through friends or relatives and another 37% taught themselves how to ride.

There is an urgent need to bring commercial motorcyclists in this country to order through an intense behavioral change intervention before their conduct turns into a critical public health phenomenon for the Country.  

Mobile Phone Cancer is Real and Dangerous

HAVE you ever experienced the exasperation that come with someone addressing you while on phone? I mean, while listening to you and as well following another speaker on the phone? What of a spectacle when someone is knocked down by an automobile because she/he could not let go of the phone while crossing a road? Then there are those who go to office and spend eight hours busy on their smart phones. You shouldn’t like it at all. I hate it.

There are several bad things nowadays, - bad manners in fact I should say, that arise from being a careless, non-sensitive aficionado of a mobile phone. I think a mobile phone is one thing that has spread so fast without precautions on its downside being equally widely shared by the manufacturer.

The World needs to catch up on this missed opportunity if we are to save money, time, integrity, and lives. Personally, I just made some tough, really very tough resolutions on the use of my mobile phone, the World may call me names, but, I don’t care the names, all I care for now are essentially my restorative tenacities.  

Just the other day, while in Mbarara City, I went to give my head a better shape in some striking barber shop. This was necessary after a fortnight focus on the hustle. Guess what? This bloke unconsciously does it to me until, - the ulcers! First, it was his excitement over a WhatsApp message. His smart phone carried him away, to the girls and other young people within this beautiful interior. The boy wanted them to see the message, and you know what? He spent his neck on forwarding it to his contacts. At least when I asked, he said, (without business sense) “boss let me just share this message first”.  Although my body looked comfortable and flexible to allow a nod, the ulcers were biting from my internal. Had it not been for the soothing interior, I could have fled!

More annoying realities about poor phone etiquette are seen in the streets every day. Motorists divide their concentration into half, with the other being on the phone. So, you find a responsible looking fellow holding the phone with one hand and the car steering wheel with only one, or use the shoulder to hold the phone –obviously straining the neck and making very deadly mistakes that can cost lives. Many have died, their stories told, but we never learn at least. I normally surprise motorcyclists who pick up calls when am passenger.  I simply say, “boss, stop for a moment…”, then I drop off just like that with the hope that they pick lessons.

The ‘smart phone cancer’ has equally invaded offices. Some employees simply fail to deliver on their daily outputs because of this malignancy. The first things people kill their eyes, necks and backs on in the morning when settled at their office desks is phone. WhatsApp messages, Facebook buzzes, twitter craze etc. eat up time for most officers. Do you know that even meetings these days do not enjoy full participation of members just because of addiction to mobile phones? Yes, married people have had to divorce because the phone has put them aside.

Global statistics reveal that 23% of road accidents nowadays are caused due to phone use while driving. This is too high and yet we know that a car forces drivers to give it maximum attention always. Let’s imagine the percentage loss in terms of delivery of outputs in an office setting. Some employers have gone ahead to put in place mobile phone use policies to reduce on this damage. Before such restrictions are imposed on you, it might be wise to personally redeem yourself. We need to shift gears and sidestep the impending helplessness coming up from the detestable use of mobile phones. We can defeat it easily because it’s merely a mindset disease. www.owiny.blogspot.com 

 

 

Mindset Change is Crucial for Parish Development Model

THE Parish Development Model (PDM) is for now the Government of Uganda (GoU) new kid on the block joining several other initiatives to fight household poverty and cruise Uganda to middle income status by 2040.

Before the launch of PDM last July, GoU has been tackling poverty through numerous programs such as; National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF), Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) and recent ones like; Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU); Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) among others, all guided by the National Development Plan III (NDPIII).

PDM is therefore a hybrid GoU poverty reduction weaponry joining the above projects to ignite economic growth through a multifaceted approach whose journey starts from the parish level so that villages and households are easily tapped in.

As we already know, the PDM methodology is anchored on seven strategic pillars: 1) Production, Storage, Processing and Marketing; 2) Infrastructure and Economic Services; 3) Financial Inclusion; 4) Social Services; 5) Mindset change; 6) Parish Based Management Information System 7) Governance and Administration.

Of the seven pillars; mindset change is to me the foundation that if well executed could easily springboard Uganda to middle income status even before the 2040 stretch. For starters, most, - if not all GoU implemented projects have been delivering massive outputs in order to change lives of Ugandans, however these yields dissipate off as soon as the projects close.

The reason is quite simple, - peoples’ attitudes ought to be developed concurrently with project execution so that they can own these projects and continue building on the knowledge, infrastructure and related project outcomes.

A sneak peek into some government projects shows mammoth achievements that could have by now uplifted Uganda out of poverty had the beneficiaries’ mindsets been tickled during previous interventions.

According to a NAADS performance report of 2020, the program supported food security interventions through procurement and distribution of 2,434,437 tons of maize seeds to 125 districts enabling 121,722 households to benefit directly within the 2019-2020 financial year alone.

NAADS further initiated a tractorization program where 560 tractor operators across the country were trained on proper operation and maintenance of tractors, procured and distributed 280 tractors to beneficiary groups in 119 districts. NAADS gave out several agricultural inputs such as maize mills, fruit processing facilities etc. These tangible and visible interventions were aimed at empowering citizens and enabling them take off and grow independently.

As for NUSAF3, its proposed directly targeted beneficiaries were 2,995,500 persons mainly nominated from poor and vulnerable households in Northern Uganda. According to the project evaluation report of April 2021, NUSAF3 surpassed its target by reaching out to 3,031,690 (101.2%) individuals without considering reciprocal beneficiaries.

NUSAF3 funded over 10,000 income generating community enterprises achieving 123% total reach way above the 7,700 target. NUSAF3 also tested the village revolving fund (VRF) approach which informed the design of the PDM by giving out 10,000 dollars (UGX 37,000,000) per village as capital for groups to borrow and pay back.

The VRF reached 425 villages and 1470 groups in Northern Uganda. This enabled growth in household monthly incomes from UGX 98,636 in 2017 to 178,147 and spiked voluntary savings by communities to an accumulated figure of over 41 billion shillings as at April 2021.

These government interventions were capable of sustainably uplifting most Ugandans out of poverty if they had an effective integration of mindset change approaches. A well-developed mindset empowers beneficiaries to keep hold on project achievements and carry on even without government or donor support.

The unwanted reality on the ground to demonstrate mindset gap is that communities keep referring to their sub projects by the name of the funder. For instance; NUSAF garden; DINU road; NAADS’ goats; DRDIP schools, etc. They simply disassociate themselves from such initiatives as if it’s not meant for them.

These misconceptions are equally exacerbated by prevailing social cultural believes and norms in our communities. In Karamoja for example, there is a belief that mixing faeces in a pit latrine engenders conflicts in homes. Some cultures forbid women from eating certain nutritious foods for unclear, unscientific reasons.

The prevalence of these myths and misconceptions pose critical barriers to projects’ desired changes and affect sustainability efforts. Thus, an overarching Social Behavioral Change Communications (SBCC) strategy based on formative research is necessary to ascertain existing barriers for the implementation of the mindset change aspect under the PDM.

The probable SBCC theory to guide community mindset change would be the Social Ecological Model which advises on how to tackle behavioral issues both for community and individuals, but this ought to be well informed by preliminary formative research in the different communities.

A summarised version of this article was published in The Daily Monitor Newspaper of Tuesday 9th Nov. 2021.  Mindset change is crucial for the parish devt model | Monitor

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Let’s Stay in the Farm Until Christmas

TRAVELLING upcountry is always such a delightful experience because it offers chance to interact with and appreciate change of environment in different ways. It offers apparent occasions to interface with diverse creatures. Remarkably are people we chat with during stoppages to answer calls of nature; thirst and inexorable seepages. Sometimes we simply stop to fill up car boots with goodies from roadside venders or to do mechanical checks on our automobiles.

Travelling the Eastern Uganda route all the way to Karamoja is no exception to these elations and immersions.  There are normally plentiful of things to enjoy while on this beautiful route.  Fresh and affordable foodstuff are usually flooded at the roadsides, from Iganga to Katakwi before one enters Napak district in Karamoja.

Surely, one needs no entry into a supermarket for fresh foods while going or coming from home via this route. Things we enjoy along this road are quite many. They range from reasonably priced local chicken to clean and glittery rice and beans. Others are; fresh water melons, sparkling and spotless mangoes, oranges and passion fruits. The thick-weighty and fresh tubers mainly; sweet potatoes, Irish, yams and cassava.

My own experience as a frequent East-wards traveler, has enabled me befriend several members of the roadside vending communities. One of them is Elizabeth Akiror (I use Eliza) from whom I always buy sweet potatoes and tasty cassava. Eliza is an Itesot woman in her late 60s if not early 70s, at least looking at her facial mien.

While travelling home a fortnight ago, I found Eliza selling mangoes instead of potatoes. This was strange. Strange, because this elderly woman has been dealing strictly in fresh tubers or sliced and dried sweet potatoes and cassava. Under normal circumstance, this is the season for fresh harvest of sweet potatoes, groundnuts, maize and beans. So, I stopped at Eliza’s spot with expectations of picking up some fresh tubers to take away for my girls.

Reader, I noticed that no roadside vender had most of these goodies by the roadside. At first, I thought it was the effect of the 42 days’ lockdown that the president had imposed in a bid to flatten the COVID-19 infection and death rates in our beautiful Country. No, not really, I realised quickly that the president actually gave exceptions to dealers of foods or produce generally.

The only challenge that the small scale food dealers could grapple with is transportation to the market. Wait, but again, the motorcyclists were given heads ups to do transportation of foodstuff. The last condition was that market vendors should spend nights within market premises, yet also, this wouldn’t affect my good friend Eliza and her colleagues who simply walked some five to 10 meters to get to the roadside with their merchandise.  So, what is the real issue? I had a short interaction with Eliza who shared with me what I now believe is the real problem.

With her blood flecked eyes beaming miraculously from a craggy skull, this woman of chocolate and rugged complexion, predicts a desolate future full of hunger and death. “We need to pray to God my son, if not, I see we shall all die of hunger this year”, she said while shrugging to the sky. “Eheehee, this year, there is no life, even the mangoes have not done well, don’t you see?” Eliza continued, “how do I sell what is not there my son. I tell you, next time we shall come here to beg instead of selling”.

Eliza told me that the first rains deceived farmers by making them plant and then it disappeared suddenly resulting to drying up of crops. “Maybe if this current rains continues up to November, then we may get some sweet potatoes, but I have lost hope”.

Indeed, this year, most farmers who planted early and are expected by now to be controlling space in the markets, have really bungled. The promising drizzles in the early month of March stirred farmers into early planting, but vanished off suddenly. The months, April -May were under full sunshine that burnt off most of our crops.  

According to the Uganda National Metrological Authority (UNMA), the period from June, July and August is normally characterized with a dry spell over most parts of; South-Western, Central, Lake Victoria basin and Eastern regions.  This period usually marks the end of the first season and is as well a time for harvest of most crops in the Country.

UNMA postulates that some physical conditions are likely influencers of the current unpredictable pattern. These includes; the neutral state of EL Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over tropical Pacific Ocean and the current neutral and weak Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) expected to develop between the months of July to August. The other factor is the influence of regional circulation patterns, topographical features and large inland water bodies.

We need to keep trying in the last half of the year. Our farmers need to be told to remain in the farm until Christmas. The current rains in most parts of Eastern and North Eastern region might be sustained for the next three months. The message should thus, go to our farmers not to lose hope, but take advantage of the drizzles to plant first growing crops that might end up rescuing the situation.

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