Lango rival paramount chief rejects peace deal

What you need to know:

  • The arbitration committee comprises four Members of Parliament and three LC5 chairpersons from Lango Sub-region alongside two other people from the rival factions.
  • The nine-member committee will have to report to the next meeting, which is yet to be scheduled, on the progress. The timeline for the committee to execute its task is one month.

LIRA. A rival faction to Lango’s paramount chief seat has said the proposed peace deal aimed at ending the six-year conflict at Lango Cultural Institution is a waste of time.
A nine-member committee has been instituted to try to reconcile Won Nyaci (Lango’s paramount chief), Mr Yosam Odur, and his rival Mr Michael Odongo Okune.
The nine-member arbitration committee aims to broker a peace deal between the two parallel leaders.

The committee comprises four Members of Parliament and three LC5 chairpersons from Lango Sub-region alongside two other people from the rival factions.
Mr Felix Okot Ogong, the MP for Dokolo South in Dokolo District, who is also the chairperson of Lango Parliamentary Group, heads the committee. He is deputised by the Lira LC5 chairman, Mr Alex Oremo Alot.

Col (rtd) Tonny Otoa, an advisor of Mr Okune, said the committee is composed of political leaders who do not have any mandate to arbitrate over cultural matters.
“Political leaders cannot dictate to cultural leaders what they should do,” Col Otoa said on Tuesday.

Genesis
Since 2012, the cultural leadership of Lango has turned divisive, and locals fear that if the situation is not address, it could degenerate into a crisis.
Prior to 2001, the Langi had no clear history of a joint leadership involving a Won Nyaci (paramount chief) but they have mainly been organised under the clan leadership system.
The idea of joint leadership reportedly came to light during a cultural sensitisation workshop organised by a Action Aid, a Non-Governmental Organisation, in Apac District in 2001.

Consequently, Mr Odur was reportedly chosen to head the Lango Cultural Foundation.
On December 10, 2005, Mr Odur was enthroned as Won Nyaci of Lango Cultural Foundation.
In 2012, disagreement broke out when the Lango cultural institution speaker, Mr Wakili Okello, was sidelined during a tour of Europe and America by Won Nyaci and his delegation
People not in the hierarchy of the institution were instead sponsored for the tour by the State.

Around that same year, Mr Odur’s legitimacy was first tested when a draft new constitution of Lango was written that changed the name of the institution to Tekwaro Lango (Lango Cultural Institution).

On the night of February 9, 2017, Mr Okune was elected as Mr Odur’s replacement in a controversial exercise held at Palms Garden Hotel in Lira Town.
Won Nyaci then filed an application at the High Court in Lira, seeking to annul the election.

Last week, the High Court dismissed the application with cost but Mr Odur never gave up.
He again petitioned the Court of Appeal, challenging the High Court decision.
Mr Odur says in his petition that Mr Okune was elected in contravention of the cultural institution’s constitution.

The constitution, among other things, allows an incumbent chief to serve until death and also bars anyone below the age of 60 from being elected as a paramount chief. Dr Okune has not yet attained this age.

On April 21, political and religious leaders from Lango Sub-region asked Mr Odur and Mr Okune to stay their operations to pave way for mediation talks.
The resolution was reached in a joint emergency meeting attended by members of the Lango Parliamentary Group and district chairpersons. The meeting was held at Lira Municipal Council hall.
Mr Willy Omodo-Omodo, Mr Okune’s information minister, said such a resolution is not binding.

“Lango Parliamentary Group came to address their problem. They don’t have any moral authority or mandate to address cultural issues, neither do they have the mandate to dissolve a cultural institution,” he said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

Col Otoa said: “It was not a resolution. It was a riot act read to us in the presence of the police at Lango Cultural Centre.”

Dr Richard Nam, the prime minister of Mr Odur’s faction, declined to comment on the matter, arguing that he could not talk on phone.

This newspaper booked an appointment to meet him physically on Tuesday morning, but when our reporter called him on phone to check whether he was available, he said he was attending to an emergency at Lira hospital.

Mr Frederick Odongo, the Dokolo LC5 chairman, said: “We feel that what we can do is to bring in some intermediary body that will help to harmonise the situation.”