Acholi MPs clash over Balaalo ban

While issues regarding OWC progress and the Parish Development Model were discussed, the media were ordered to leave the meeting room. But sources, who attended the meeting chaired by Gen Saleh, described it as a ‘plot to keep the Balaalo in the north’.

“At the meeting, the leaders pleaded with Gen Saleh to speak to his elder brother (Yoweri Museveni) to suspend his order on evicting the Balaalo herdsmen from the north (Lango and Acholi sub-regions),” the source said on Monday.

“The leaders, though they could not statistically justify the positive impact of the herdsmen in the region to warrant their requests, told Gen Saleh that the presence of the Balaalo in the region had significantly impacted the cattle breed and that livestock trade had been boosted,” the source added.

Another source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the leaders argued that President Museveni was seemingly ill-advised by people in the region, who were not deriving any benefits from the presence of the herdsmen in the area.

“It was agreed at the meeting that Gen Saleh speaks to his brother to suspend the ban and allow a proper audit into the Balaalo impact in the region. The same audit/review would be conducted by the same leaders,” the source said.

On Monday, July 31, the collection and verification of data on Balaalo herdsmen kicked off in Amuru District and progressed to Nwoya District the following week. The Daily Monitor has established that Gen Saleh has for more than a month been camped in Purongo Sub-county in Nwoya District to supervise the execution of the verification exercise.

The verification team comprises the LC5 chairpersons represented by Nwoya District chairman Emmanuel Orach, Lamwo RDC Geoffrey Osborn Oceng and Amuru RDC Stephen Odong Latek representing the RDCs, and Mr Zerubabel Abuka, who is representing OWC, among others.

It was established that, in Amuru District, the verification was held at Atiak Town Council headquarters, where at least 35 cattle keepers were screened.

According to Mr Latek, the verification team will move to the districts of Lamwo, Gulu, Nwoya and Amuru to collect data from land sellers and buyers, ascertaining facts on the details of land sale, ownership of the land, as well as the compliance with the set guidelines, especially for the cattle keepers. The final report was expected to be handed over to the Office of the President through Gen Saleh on August 8 for further management.

Mr Abuka, however, noted that, from the files so far perused, there are critical issues regarding land ownership where young people ranging from 28 to 35 years claiming to be owning more than 500 acres of land are insinuating land grabbing, including cheating of land owners by the brokers and local leaders.

“The local leaders are making millions from the land sale, cheating the landowners, who in some incidences cheated the community because they sold communal kraal, or hunting ground. In such cases, you don’t even know whom to sympathise with,” Mr Abuka said.

On Monday, a section of Acholi MPs opposing the move, in a press briefing in Gulu City, demanded an immediate cancellation of the verification exercise citing conflict of interest, bribery and intimation, among others.

Bribe allegations

The MPs, led by Chua West representative Okin Ojara, claimed the leaders, while at the meeting with Gen Saleh at Gulu University on June 25, were bribed by the OWC to okay the stay of the Balaalo in the region and that those opposing the deal have since faced threats.

“What does OWC have to do with the Balaalo stay in the region here? They are not doing any project on the Balaalo. Gen Saleh advises his brother (President Museveni) on security and a different advisor to the President perhaps on agriculture or investment would have been the one to advise the President. Gen Saleh factor in the Balaalo issue is sinister,” Mr Okin said.

He condemned the verification, questioning the justification for the exercise on Acholi land. He also demanded that it should be stopped with immediate effect.

“We have learnt that the LC1s, LC2s, LC5s, RDCs and some of our MP colleagues are the ones who called Gen Saleh and convinced him to ask the President to reverse his order on Balaalo. However, that order is very clear and the position of the Acholi people, Ker Kwaro and the religious leaders are very clear that the Balaalo must go,” Mr Okin added.

On July 2, President Museveni deferred the enforcement of the expulsion of the Balaalo herdsmen from northern Uganda, suspending his earlier directive in the Executive Order Number 3 issued on May 19. Mr Museveni’s July 2 letter to Gen Saleh over the deferment, leaders say, practically annulled the directive he made to ban the Balaalo from the north.

“I have seen your letter of June 26, 2023, regarding the Balaalo issue. I picked it up because some Acholi leaders were complaining about it. The advantages you have outlined are obvious. The only issues to take care of are; no Balaalo cattle tramples wanainchi’s crops and the answer for that is strong fencing and providing on-farm water,” the letter stated.

According to him, a practice in which the Balaalo exploit the knowledge gap between them and the local people (land owners), where they collude with a few individuals in the family or clan to make the purchases and yet the land does not belong to the individuals, must be avoided.

“If these two factors are guarded against, then the migration by the elite (‘Balaalo’) would be healthy and symbiotic. The government would then seek to help other locals to learn from the Balaalo and develop a strong broad-based dairy and beef industry in the north. Therefore, as we agreed on the phone and as I communicated through my radio message DTG 011550C July 23, I hereby extend the deadline of the Executive Order to the 30th of September, 2023,” he stated in the letter.

As per the verification so far done in Gulu, Amuru and Nwoya districts, there are more than 40,000 heads of cattle in the region owned by the Balaalo with more than 2,000 Balaalo herdsmen. These numbers exclude data from Pader, Lamwo, Omoro and Agago, among others that are yet to be verified.

Divided opinion

Ms Betty Aol Ochan, the Gulu City Woman MP, said: “The President should know that these were his orders and he did not simply make them politically, but he should stand up to make them work. If he makes the next presidential order, probably no one could take it seriously.”

She added that if the government fails to listen to their demands, they will table the matter before Parliament and mobilise the population to protest.

“That means we must mobilise ourselves as Acholi to protect our people, land and properties,” she said. 

On July 5, the Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi, confirmed to Parliament that the President, in a recent Cabinet meeting, deferred the enforcement of the order to September.

The order was reportedly deferred to give Gen Saleh and Acholi leaders time to conduct a study on how to conclusively handle the problem.

This is not the first time President Museveni has attempted to expel Balaalo from the north. In November 2022, he issued a two-month ultimatum to the herdsmen to vacate or face eviction. Many did not leave and remained in the area, resulting in the June directive.

While Gen Saleh and Acholi leaders are currently reported to be analysing probable ways to solve the matter, it is unclear where they will relocate and if they bought land, how their contractual rights will be guaranteed or they will be compensated. 

The President’s decision to again defer the implementation of the directive has sparked mixed reactions, with sections of Acholi leaders claiming the orders were simply a tool to politick.

 On May 19, President Museveni convened a meeting with the leaders of Acholi and Lango at Barlegi State Lodge in Otuke District during which matters affecting the region, including the Balaalo herdsmen was discussed.

This publication established some cattle keepers petitioned the President against implementation of the order.  Upon receiving the petition, the President deferred implementation of the order to September 30 to give time for verification to be conducted.

Meanwhile, a two-week extension period has been issued for the verification exercise to enable the team complete the exercise in East Acholi (Agago, Lamwo, Kitgum and Pader) districts.

“The workload is not completed, which has prompted an extension of two weeks under the supervision of the state minister for northern Uganda in the Office of the Prime Minister,” Mr Anthony Akol, the Kilak North MP and chairman of Acholi Parliamentary Group, said.

Ministers summoned

On Friday, August 4, Gen Saleh called ministers of Land, Agriculture, Internal Affairs, the Attorney General and other government agencies such as the National Forestry Authority (NFA) and Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) at his residence in Purongo, where he unveiled to them the mid-term report.

In a Monday, July 31, briefing to the media, Mr Akol dimissed the arguments of the MPs against the move to keep the Balaalo in the region, saying they were enemies of the region’s progress.

“The (President’s) order would adversely affect not only the irregular but also well-settled and genuine cattle keepers. Among the resolutions, a smaller committee was constituted to verify the compliance of the Balaalo to give a brief to the President appreciating the situation on the ground and subsequent course of action,” Mr Akol said.

The committee was constituted and initially chaired by Mr Akol. However, it is established that the Uganda Land Commission was later co-opted and Prof Jack Nyeko Penmogi was nominated to chair the committee.  With the terms of reference to verify the Balaalo for compliance, the committee was to establish the nationalities and compliance to sales and purchase agreements, leases and co-existence with the local leaders.

“The committee worked and has secured preliminary facts to provide a brief to the President. However, in the districts of Nwoya, Amuru, and Gulu,” Mr Akol added.

Background

This newspaper established that, an acre of land was bought by the Balaalo herdsmen in the Nwoya and Amuru districts at between Shs250,000 and Shs800,000, a price said to be 75 per cent less than the current market value for an acre of land in such villages.

It is also established that the preliminary findings from the verification exercise indicate that while the Balaalo have land sales and lease agreements with land owners, local leaders were not involved in the sales and that most land was undervalued.

Interestingly, the report states that most of the land in question that has been bought or leased by the Balaalo has not been surveyed nor have actual sizes known.

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