Gulu Main Market Vendors Association leaders kneel before Reserve Forces Commander, Lt Gen Charles Otema Awany (with a hat), during a wealth creation rally on March 7. MONITOR PHOTO
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has reached a deal with a section of Opposition-leaning Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Acholi Sub-region. On March 13, President Museveni met the delegation of Acholi MPs at State House Entebbe to discuss the memorandum of understanding.
“We have been saying all this time that the correct ideology, if we want prosperity for our people, is that of promoting the politics of interests and not identity,” Mr Museveni posted on his X handle. “…..happy that the leaders of Acholi [sub-region] from the various political parties visited me today and reaffirmed their commitment to working with the government to get our people out of poverty. We shall study their memorandum and continue with the dialogue. I welcome them,” he said.
The MPs included Patrick Polly Okin Ojara, Anthony Akol, Betty Aol Ochan, Santa Okot, Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, and Lucy Akello. In a statement issued recently, the group said: “We take note of the government’s non-adversarial approach to the discussions that enabled us to achieve convergence across all areas of our propositions to the government.
In particular, these are: compensation for lost livestock and property, transitional justice law and institutional framework for its implementation.” Earlier on February 27, at least 10 MPs held what they described as a “fruitful discussion” with a delegation led by the State minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi, in Gulu City. Sunday Monitor established that at the meeting, the MPs led by Chua West County legislator Okin Ojara, presented to the government team proposals for a wide range of socio-economic issues that they claimed continue to put the sub-region in perpetual decline. Out of the 28 parliamentary seats in the Acholi sub-region, 13 are occupied by NRM, eight are occupied by the Opposition, and the rest are independent. Mr Akol, the Kilak North MP, who also attended the meeting, said their decision to dialogue with the government resulted from public criticism by the Acholi people over the style of Opposition politics.
“After President Museveni, in November 2023 apologised to the people of Acholi for the mistakes that were made by his government in the past, we then started thinking how we can build from that base by working together with the NRM government,” he said. “We have been blamed for blocking development in northern Uganda, especially in Acholi sub-region. If the government is willing to work on these problems of the Acholi, then we can work together with them by mobilising the support of our people,” Akol said. Aruu North County MP Santa Okot, also the current deputy secretary general of the People's Progressive Party, said: “We don’t fight with the government. We are supposed to give alternatives to what we see that is not done well, so we want to allay the fears of our people that we are ditching the Opposition for NRM.” “Acholi people have been in tears in different ways. Currently, when you look at the poverty index, the Acholi people are the poorest, even Karamoja is becoming better, and this means the government has not put special attention to this kind of problem on the issue of agriculture,” she added. This meeting comes hot on the heels of the recent defection of Mr Akol and his Gulu City (Bardege-Layibi) counterpart Mapenduzi in Amuru District on February 15. Mr Akol, who now serves his second term, has secured both with the FDC flag. Earlier, the Amuru District chairman, also the FDC party chairman for the district, Mr Michael Lakony, defected to the NRM at a ceremony presided over by President Museveni on January 30 in Alebtong District.
Conditions for defection At his defection, Mr Akol said he had met with Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, to whom he handed over detailed conditions for his defection from FDC to NRM. “I sat down with (the Speaker) and told her the conditions that we have given to the President of the Republic of Uganda. Among all those issues, number one is Apaa land (where there have been persistent conflicts between the Acholi and Madi communities) to become a district,” he said. At the ceremony, Ms Among said defecting to the ruling NRM party remains the only option for Acholi legislators to be able to drive development to the sub-region. “We have only one government, you are either there or you are not there, and if you want your people to benefit, then you should belong to that government, led by President Museveni,” Ms Among said. The widely-criticised defection of Mr Akol, Mr Ojara and Mr Lakony, as well as the move by Acholi Opposition MPs to crack a deal with NRM, is said to be spelling disaster for FDC, a dominant party in the region since the early 2000s. Since February, FDC deputy party president in charge of northern Uganda, Mr Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, has pitched camp in the region.
While the defections of the trio are a huge blow to the party, Mr Fungaroo said it does not mean the end of the party. “We are now embarking on strengthening the leadership capability of its members and identifying candidates to replace the defectors. We are also scheduled to hold party structure elections in the district,” Mr Fungaroo said. Mr Benard Loum, a political commentator in Gulu, said the exodus of Acholi leaders from the Opposition is not a surprise in regards to politics in the sub-region. “That does not mean that we shall run short of potential Opposition. When people defect, for example, from Opposition parties to the ruling party, they create a leadership vacuum for young and emerging leaders to occupy those positions,” he said. However, Prof Morris Ogenga Latigo, a veteran politician formerly with FDC and also former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, questioned the timing of the political dialogue and labels it a scheme of self-seekers. “Why would these Acholi leaders come out to hold discussions with the government now, of all times? Defection remains a means of acquiring leadership in Acholi rather than honesty,” he said.
“Nobody is in Opposition; every politician belongs to a party or is independent, and the problem of labelling somebody as Opposition makes them feel less important than the others. I have never been in NRM, and never even contemplated joining NRM. But President Museveni always delegated me to perform critical tasks,” Prof Latigo said. Fr Eric Uma, the parish priest of Holy Rosary Catholic Parish, in a Sunday, March 9, sermon at Holy Rosary Chapel, vented his disappointment in the NRM government, accusing it of manipulating leadership in the Acholi sub-region. “The poverty in the Acholi sub-region, who caused it? The same people who threw Acholi into abject poverty are the same people now coming around claiming they want to lift you out of poverty,” he said. Fr Uma also rebuked traders for kneeling before Lt Gen Charles Otema Awany, the Reserve Forces Commander, and asking for money. On March 7, Gulu Main Market leaders knelt before Lt Gen Otema, seeking his help in the face of the challenges they faced in operating the market. Lt Gen Otema, who has been touring Gulu and Amuru districts in the name of wealth creation campaign, gave the vendors Shs60 million in cash and another cash pledge of Shs40 million. Lt Gen Otema has for months now been spreading the gospel of wealth creation, but also dishing out money to most groups he has met.
Defecting from FDC to NRM
At his defection, Mr Akol said he had met with Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, to whom he handed over detailed conditions for his defection from FDC to NRM . I sat down with (the Speaker) and told her the conditions that we have given to the President of the Republic of Uganda. Among all those issues, number one is Apaa land (where there have been persistent conflicts between the Acholi and Madi communities) to become a district,’’ MP Anthony Akol
