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Would a Karimojong minister have handled iron sheets any better?
A Karimojong enters his house in Kaabong District. PHOTOS/ JUSTIN D. EMEDOT
What you need to know:
- With some members of the Karamoja Parliamentary Group calling for their kin to be appointed to head the Karamoja Affairs docket, history shows that natives heading affirmative action ministries has produced mixed results, Isaac Mufumba writes.
Last week, the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Ms Mary Goretti Kitutu, apologised for presiding over the diversion of iron sheets that had been procured for distribution to vulnerable communities in Karamoja sub-region.
The iron sheets were instead distributed to government officials, including very senior members of President Museveni’s Cabinet.
Ms Kitutu, who made the apology while appearing before members of the Presidential Affairs Committee had been under pressure for several weeks over, among other things, abuse of a Shs25b kitty meant for the distribution of goats in Karamoja. Legislators from Karamoja want her censured.
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History of abuse
However, whereas the iron sheets and goats’ sagas have been dominating the headlines for the last six weeks or so, it is not the first time that a matter related to the abuse, misappropriation or misuse of resources meant for the transformation of the mineral-rich region, which is prone to prolonged droughts and chronic food shortages and whose people are ironically some of the poorest Ugandans, has made the headlines.
According to Dr Frank Nabwiso, who was a member of the external wing of the National Resistance Movement/Army (NRM/A) during the Bush War (1981 to 1986), whereas Karamoja was in 1986 considered “the most backward part of Uganda”, the NRM did not create a ministry for it.
Karamoja Development Agency (KDA), came into existence in July 1987, thanks to the enactment by the National Resistance Council (NRC) of the KDA Act.
KDA was placed under the Office of the President and charged with, among others, coordinating development projects and causing rapid economic and social development in Karamoja by improving health and education; skilling the Karimojong and providing them with water for production.
According to Prof Sabiti Makara, who teaches Political Science at Makerere University, the belief that resources meant for Karamoja’s development are often pilfered by “foreigners” has abounded since the 1980s when KDA was in existence.
“At one time there was a minister for Karamoja who was from West Nile. And there was an allegation from the Karamoja people that resources that were meant to have developed Karamoja were being diverted to Arua,” Prof Makara says.
A Karimojong child takes a nap near Jinja road traffic lights in Kampala recently. PHOTO/ FILE
So grave was the level of concern about what was happening to the resources, that some of the Karimojong legislators started referring to KDA, tongue in cheek, as “Karamoja Develop Arua”. This led to calls for a review of the administrative and political structures of the agency with a view of handing the leadership to the Karimojong. It was partly due to this that Article 32 of the Constitution came into being.
Article 32 (1) provides that, “Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the State shall take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis of gender, age, disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom, for the purpose of redressing imbalances which exist against them”. It opened the window for the creation for a Karamoja ministry.
In 1996, Mr Peter Lokeris was appointed the State Minister for Karamoja, a position that he held until after the 2006 elections. That has been longest time that a Karimojong has been involved in the affairs of Karamoja.
ICYMI:
Renewed agitation
The decision by minister Kitutu to take some iron sheets for herself and allocate others to her Cabinet colleagues has served to rekindle a long time demand by the Karimojong, that a minister for Karamoja should be one of their own.
Mr John Bosco Ngoya, the MP for Bokora County, told Sunday Monitor that the Karamoja Parliamentary Group (KPG) feel that no Karimojong would steal resources meant for the vulnerable people of Karamoja.
“There is a conviction that a person from Karamoja would manage resources and policies better. I think it would be easier for a person from Karamoja to account. If you cannot account to government and you do it your own way, the local communities will demand. Your own community would actually not make you survive,” Mr Ngoya argues.
Karimojong women carry firewood near Moroto Town.
Luweero and PRDP scandals
Of course, there is no guarantee that a person from Karamoja would not steal resources meant for vulnerable people of Karamoja. A case in point is perhaps the fate of the Shs68b fund that had been set up for the rehabilitation of the Luweero Triangle.
Mr Museveni’s first Vice President, Dr Samson Kisekka, who was from central region (Buganda) where Luweero falls, was accused of having mismanaged the Shs68b Luweero Fund. Whereas the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) later cleared Kisekka of any wrongdoing, the effects of the mismanagement of that fund are still being felt in what was then known as the Luweero Triangle.
A promise that Mr Museveni made as far back as 2008 to veterans he met at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi that 8,000 Luweero-based civilians who contributed to the five-year guerrilla war that brought the NRM to power receive a handshake of Shs25b has never been effected even when the some of the ministers for Luweero have actually been from Buganda.
At the same time, some of the ministry of Finance officials who were arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Court on charges of having diverted over Shs14 billion meant for reconstruction of northern Uganda under the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) programme, were from northern Uganda.
KPG’s Pre 2021 Cabinet demand
Members of KPG had made their feelings and beliefs known during an interface they had with Mr Museveni long before June 2021 when Mr Museveni unveiled his Cabinet of “fishermen”.
“There is a conviction that a person from Karamoja would manage resources and policies better. That is why at the time of appointment some of us had suggested a hybrid. We suggested that if the President cannot get a Karimojong (to head the ministry) at least one of the persons in the docket should be from Karamoja and should have some context about the region” Mr Ngoya argues.
Mr Museveni has on occasion made it known that hired shepherds can never give a flock better care than the owner, especially when it comes to the management of areas that are considered key.
Mr Museveni while addressing members of the NRM’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) on September 9, 2020, used the parable of the hired shepherd as told in the Book of John 10: 11-13 to emphasise the need for the owner to be in charge of the flock on grounds that the owner would “defend the sheep even at the expense of his own life”.
At the time, Mr Museveni was talking about the need to have Ugandans in charge of sectors like the economy. Sunday Monitor was unable to establish why Mr Museveni did not acquiesce to the demands of KPG, but how could he not have considered it necessary to put “natives” in charge of areas for which affirmative action ministries had been created?
A case for a native
Mr Ben Baatom Koryang, the Dodoth West MP who is also the secretary of KPG, says the few occasions when people from Karamoja have been given a chance to serve Karamoja are testimony that issues of Karamoja are best driven by the Karimojong.
Mr Koryang points to the time when Mr Lokeris served as State minister for Karamoja. He says the successes registered in regard to the disarmament was largely on account of Mr Lokeris’ doing.
“The foundation of some of the good things that have happened was laid by Lokeris. For example the disarmament exercise, it was during his time that vigilantes were recruited. Their sole purpose was not just to provide alternative security solving mechanisms, but to also identify and register how many guns were in the region. Lokeris brought in everybody who knew how the Karachunas (warriors) were operating” Mr Koryang argues.
No peculiarity
The kind of performance that Mr Lokeris is credited with and the iron sheets and goats scandals that have been presided over by minister Kitutu have only served to renew calls for the appointment of Karimojong to take lead in affairs that concern them.
That demand is, however, not peculiar to Karamoja. Other regions too have been making muffled noises aimed at drawing the appointing authority’s attention to the need for the political heads of those affirmative action ministries to be from the regions for which the ministries are formed.
Men mine gold in the mineral-rich Karamoja sub-region.
On August 4, 2021, less than a month after Mr Museveni unveiled his Cabinet, the Omuhikirwa (prime minister) of Bunyoro Kingdom, Mr Andrew Byakutaga, gave an insight into the thinking of his people about the Ministry of Bunyoro Affairs.
“This ministry was created to address our issues because we know them better,” Mr Byakutaga said during a handover of food items to vulnerable people in Masindi Municipality.
Speaking to Sunday Monitor on condition that his identity is not revealed due to the sensitivity of the matter, a member of the Babito Clan, the royal clan of Bunyoro Kitara, said there have been calls by sections of the royalty in Bunyoro not to put a non-Munyoro to be in charge of the ministry of Bunyoro Affairs.
“If you have somebody who is from the region, he knows the problems of the region first hand, he also understands the context of the ministry. That person will be in a better position to provide better information for decision making,” the Mubiito said.
The State minister for Bunyoro Affairs is Ms Jennifer Namuyangu, who is not from Bunyoro region. The first minister of Bunyoro Affairs was Mr Ernest Kizza. He was the MP for Masindi Municipality.
Prof Makara now says it is time for President Museveni to take keener interest in the possibility of appointing people who are native to the affirmative action ministries areas as political heads to those ministries.
“Now that there is this feeling that resources are abused because the ministers are not from among ourselves (Karimojong), the President should maybe look into that. There is a feeling that if Sabiti is from Kabale, he would be ashamed to steal iron sheets meant for the people of Kabale and maybe taken them to Mbarara. In fact, this time round Karamoja has very few ministers. That strengthens the need,” Prof Makara argues.
The appointing authority did not acquiesce in June 2021. Will he acquiesce now?
