Inside cultural leaders’ 5-point agenda to redevelop the north

The cultural institutions across northern Uganda have come up with a five-point agenda aimed at transforming the region.

Mr Geoffrey Okello Okuna, the Acholi cultural institution’s communications officer, said the latest meeting of the cultural chiefs convened in Gulu City by Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Acana II resolved to table a five-point agenda before President Museveni at their forthcoming meeting.

Mr Okuna said one of the key issues agreed on was the revival of the livestock economy through the Beef Development Authority that targets the north.

“It was agreed that the government should help cultural institutions open up royal farms to support the existing ones and that the government, through the cultural institution, should improve cattle breeds in the Greater North,” he said.

Mr Okuna added that the meeting, held in Gulu City on Monday, also agreed to petition the President to streamline the current framework for war debt compensation to weed out middlemen.

Furthermore, the meeting resolved to petition Mr Museveni to ensure each cultural institution is accorded a seed secondary school and a vocational institute to help address youth unemployment. The chiefs also resolved to ask for other budgetary components to help them mobilise their people for production, wealth creation, and mindset change.

Part of the resolutions read by Rwot Onen Ocana II said: “Cultural institutions should help their people to shift from seasonal to perennial crops like coffee, cocoa, etc.

There is need to come up with a master plan for the transformation of the region and this can only be achieved through proper budgeting allocations.”

“Government should involve the cultural institution in mineral prospecting and associated discussions related to the extraction,” they added.

An intercultural working committee headed by Rwot Onen Ocana II was set up to consolidate the issues raised during the meeting and transform it into a working document before the chiefs meeting with President Museveni.

In a statement, Rwot Onen Ocana II said: “We have issues that are cross-cutting. For instance, issues of land, minerals and natural resources within, and you hear of the oil, other minerals, Karamoja gold, and many others. How do we position ourselves? There are questions around royalties to be paid.”

He said many of the government interventions, including NUSAF, PRDP, and many others that were introduced to the region, did not yield fruits due to poor approaches and coordination.

“I believe in all these regions, as much as the government sank a lot of money into these programmes, the effects or the results are very minimal on our people. A case in point is the issue of poverty, in Uganda, Acholi region is hand in hand with Karamoja,” he said.

Whereas the region have witnessed recurring problems, including land wrangles, poverty, diseases, youth unemployment, and school dropouts, Rwot Onen Ocana II said several intervention proposals sent to the government have not been acted upon.

“We came up with proposals, we made suggestions to leaders in government and elsewhere, but every time we do that it's like we are hitting a wall. You write a proposal and nobody approves and you think, what did I do wrong? The people from Operation Wealth Creation come out and you write a proposal and submit it to them and it goes quiet and dead,” he said.

Cattle rustling

Meanwhile, the Madi Paramount Chief, Mr Stephen Drani Izakare, said: “There are traditions that we need to get rid of like cattle rustling, it affects the economic empowerment of other people. The Karimojong don’t come to Madi to rustle, but they mostly rustle within themselves. The issue is in the north, and we should all look at protecting not just our individual societal jurisdiction but other societies that we live with.”

Mr Michael Ayepa, the technical adviser to the Karamoja Elders Association, in a statement, said without unity, the region would harvest very little from the government.

He said it was incumbent upon the government to support the cultural institutions to strengthen their capacity to support the government’s programmes on wealth creation and economic prosperity.

“We need to ask the government to continue supporting all our cultural institutions and I am happy about the budget that has been allocated to support the cultural institutions. We should ensure this support is not a one-off, so that the institutions are supported throughout by integrating it in the national budget,” he added.

Mr Ayepa also said: “I am the regional coordinator for PDM for Karamoja Sub-region but it pains to see how our people are not using these resources that are given for investment. They buy mattresses, drink, marry wives.”

The cultural chiefs in the region were meant to meet the President in September but the engagement was postponed, the Daily Monitor has established.

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