We are not enemies of progress, Acholi leaders tell government

Amuru. In a rare display of unity, Acholi leaders have made a clarion call to government to stop looking at the sub-region as anti-developmental but instead work with communities in the area to foster meaningful transformation.
The leaders made the call following several meetings with President Museveni’s young brother and Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation, General Salim Saleh, at Atiak Sugar factory in Amuru District. Gen Saleh spent three days in the region.

Some of the leaders from Acholi sub-region who attended the meetings and participated in several tours of the area include the Paramount Chief of Acholi, Rwot David Onen Achana II, Democratic Party (DP) president Norbert Mao, former minister and now Senior Director for Fragility, Conflict, and Violence at the World Bank, Betty Oyella Bigombe, former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly Daniel Fred Kidega and MPs Anthony Akol (Kilak North), Gilbert Olanya (Kilak South).

Atiak Sugar project which sits on 15,000 acres of land, is a partnership between the local community, government and Horyal Investment Company Holdings Limited owned by businesswoman Amina Hersi Moghe.

Outgrowers will take up another 8,000 hectares. At full capacity the project is expected to produce 1.4m tonnes per annum.
So far, government has invested more than Shs20b in grants to the local community to develop capacity and grow sugarcane the factory will need once it is up and running. A green field sugar factory with a crushing capacity of 1,650 tonnes per day is under construction.

Addressing farmers and other stakeholders at the factory, the leaders who spoke in turns, unanimously said that there was a misconception that the people of northern Uganda are against anti-development in their area.

They instead blamed the procedure used to bring some projects to the area as the cause of the strife that has been witnessed in some parts of the sub-region.
Mr Olanya urged government not to shun bringing big projects to the area, saying people in the sub-region are thirsty for development after the guns went silent in the sub-region that was ravaged by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency led by Joseph Kony.
“The mentality that acquiring land from Acholi is a tag of war should be removed from our minds. Don’t use guns to grab land from the community, negotiate with the people and I think General you have seen for yourself the results,” he said.

Mr Olanya and some of his colleagues have been at the forefront of opposing the acquisition of at least 10,000 hectares of land in Amuru by Madhvani for the establishment of a sugar factory in parts of Kololo, Lakang, Bana, Omee, Lujoro, Lwak Obito and Pailyech for Amuru Sugar Works Ltd on allegations of land grabbing.
“Actually, the people here want development and they want to use the right people to do the job,” Rwot Achana II said.
Responding to earlier remarks of disbelief by Gen Saleh that the leadership of the community is united to promote development, MP Akol said the region did not want to be left behind as other parts of the country developed.

“We want to say, if you want to reach middle income economy which you have been talking about by 2020, then no region should be left behind and that would mean our region should be put ahead also in your planning. Where there has been war, there must be some extra planning, even investors who are coming to these areas should be given more resources and easily,” he said.

Saleh responds
Gen Saleh instead paid tribute to his big brother, President Museveni, for what he said was his vision and insistence that the project must go on even when he and others remained skeptical about its viability.
I can see all of us taking credit for this project but there is only one man who believed it and he said you must do it and that is the President. None of us really understood exactly what it was all about. We said how can Shs20b plus go in a single project. For us we were interested in distributing goats and pigs and he said if you don’t put money there and lock it up there close your offices and go, and I am very grateful he made that decision because the outcome of this project is going to be very, very transformational.”

He added: “The most important person to be grateful to is that Mzee[Omeya] and his family— the land owners, the second person to be grateful to is Madam Amina. That lady has been able to achieve in I think four years what I was unable to achieve in 20 years because like Hon Mao said, government organs are working separately but for this project, ministry of Works, ministry of Agriculture, Solicitor General, OWC, all of us are combined with a big desire to see this model succeed,” he added.
Mr Mao, who likened himself to a signpost that tells everyone what they don’t want to hear, said it was a miracle government institutions were working together to see the project in the area succeed.

“That so much money has been released for this project is actually a miracle but this is also an experiment that is likely to help government to change strategy,” the former Gulu District chairman and legislator said.
Gen Saleh said he had chosen to visit the area on invitation of the area leaders led by Mr Mao after they had visited him at his industrial project in Kapeeka, Nakaseke District.
“I am delighted to see the works moving on smoothly after the local leaders and politicians put aside their differences and political intrigue to rally the community to overcome their fears and open up their fields to the project,” he said.

About the closed door discussions, he said they had discussed ways to avoid and mitigate future conflict around land issues taking into account customary rights in minimising displacements if at all the need arises, and possible assistance for when there arises unavoidable relocations due to support infrastructure such as roads, inputs/support to be given by OWC and so forth.

Outgrowers complain
Atiak Outgrowers Coop Society Ltd has accused government, especially the leadership of the third Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) Project of frustrating their activities even after they were ordered to provide about Shs1.8b to the project.
Daily Monitor has seen a letter reportedly authored by the NUSAF III project director, Dr Robert Lim Lim, informing the group that they won’t provide the said funding because it is not within their scope.

“With government, when it comes to making statements, it is very easy but implementation is very difficult,” Ms Santa Joyce Laker, who leads Atiak Outgrowers Coop Society Ltd, said. With funds from National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads), the group of 3,870 households says it has been able to clear bushes on 14,000 acres and planted 2,000 acres of sugar cane.

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