Peter Lokeris, the State Minister for Minerals and MP for Chekwii County in Nakapiripirit district who led the ceremony said they are resorting to using their traditional methods to hunt for the warriors who have failed to embrace peace.
A group of
Karamojong Elders has performed rituals to curse the armed cattle raiders who
are terrorizing the communities.
The rituals were performed at the traditional shrine locally known as
‘’Akiriket’’ on Friday in Nakapiripirit district during a peace caravan
meeting. The assembly marked the end of the peace dialogues the Karamoja MPs
have been conducting across the region to seek possible solutions to end
cattle raids.
Peter Lokeris, the State Minister for Minerals and MP for Chekwii County in
Nakapiripirit district who led the ceremony said they are resorting to using
their traditional methods to hunt for the warriors who have failed to embrace peace.
Lokeris said they have decided to lay their curses on their own children to die
in the raids following their evil acts of raiding and killing innocent
people. He noted that the region has
remained under development because of the wrong elements who have continued
terrorizing the region despite several calls made to stop what he termed an
evil act.
//Cue in: for
us Karamojong when elders…
Cue out: “…evil
to go away but it happens’’.//
Apaa Modo Lomer, one of the elders who participated in the rituals says he does
not regret cursing their children because they have pleaded enough and the only
alternative is to lose them.
‘’We cannot continue babysitting people who don’t want to listen but are busy
causing destruction, never, and whatever we have pronounced in our prayer will
happen, just a matter of time’’ Lomer said.
But, Joseph Abura the Bishop Karamoja Diocese says he is s skeptical about the elder’s
utterances and whether they will have any effects on the warriors.
Abura said
the curses used to work in the old days when the elders were still holy. He says
that the elders have been lured by their own children who raid and use the
money to drink crude waragi together with the elders.
//Cue in: In
the former, it used to work…
Cue out: “…of
their prayers it might work’’.//
Paul Lote
Komol, the LCV Chairperson Kotido says that elders do not possess such powers anymore and the curse will
never work, describing it as a joke. He
adds that it is surprising that the warriors even beat elders and nothing has
happened to them as it used to be in the early days.
//Cue in: “if
that one was true, elders…
Cue out: “…warrior
no it doesn’t work’’.//
The
Karamojong believe in God who is believed to reside in the sky, overseeing and
responsible for everything that is happening on earth. the hierarchical status
of individuals prominent in the society reflects their relative’s proximity to
the sacred and the divine.
