Prime
Tororo County MPs renew call for district
Ms Annette Nyaketcho, the Tororo North MP
What you need to know:
- Tension between the two communities has been building since 1962 before independence and led to the demarcations that separated West Budama for Jopadhola from Tororo County for Iteso.
- The Budama South MP, Jacob Oboth Oboth, however, blamed the impasse on leaders whom he said have failed to guide their people.
Members of Parliament from Tororo District have disregarded President Museveni’s proposal for a reunion between leaders of Jopadhola and Iteso communities as a solution to ending their long-standing conflict.
Ms Annette Nyaketcho, the Tororo North MP, and Mr Fred Angura (Tororo South) said the proposal will never be possible unless government grants Iteso their own district.
“Let’s not pretend that we are one, we are not. We will only be free when we have our own district and I ask President Museveni to pronounce his position on this matter, which is before his table,’’ Ms Nyaketcho said at the weekend.
This was during the burial of the mother of Tororo Municipality MP Yeri Apollo Ofwono in Angorom Village, Osukuru Sub-county.
Earlier, during the 33rd Liberation Day celebrations in Nabuyoga Sub-county in Tororo on January 26, the President had asked the leaders of both communities to reconcile and unite in order to foster development.
“I have requested elders from both sides to sit and talk to their children so as to rejuvenate the earlier relationship that they had,” Mr Museveni said.
However, Ms Nyaketcho said the Itesot have been marginalised by the Jopadhola, their counterparts from West Budama, for long.
“It is not logical to unite people who are already wounded and have suffered enough,” she said.
The MP said unity can only be attained if their counterparts were treating them as equals instead of looking at themselves as superior.
“Unity can only work where respect exists but in this current dire situation, where other people think they are more superior than others, then no one should expect it,” Ms Nyaketcho said. Mr Angura said government should not hide behind the call for unity to deny them a district.
“The demand for an independent district does not have anything to do with tribe because Tororo County is one of the counties that have more than 76 tribes,” he said.
However, Mr Yeri called for unity of the people of Tororo.
“The people of Tororo accepted me the way I am and I encourage other leaders in the district to work towards uniting all our people. The President’s proposal is the way to go because we cannot talk about integration of Africa and East Africa yet we are still divided,” he said.
Daily Monitor has also learnt that the district speaker, Mr John Okeya, had called for a council meeting tomorrow to implement Mr Museveni’s position but Tororo County councillors opposed the move.
The Budama South MP, Jacob Oboth Oboth, however, blamed the impasse on leaders whom he said have failed to guide their people.
“l’m surprised that my fellow MPs are still up to-date misleading their communities to continue having hope for a district even after the President asked us to unite,” he said.
Uganda’s High Commissioner to Kenya Phibby Otaala called for unity.
Background
Tension between the two communities has been building since 1962 before independence and led to the demarcations that separated West Budama for Jopadhola from Tororo County for Iteso. The separation, however, escalated the tensions a few years ago after residents of Tororo County requested Mr Museveni for their own district after one of the residents attempted to eat a rat in 2017. Government agreed to grant Tororo County a district status but the location of Tororo Municipality remained a matter of contention as each group claimed it.
In 2018, one person was shot dead during a protest staged by Jopadhola community against the decision by the Iteso to hold their cultural festival in Tororo Municipality.
