PP Okin Ojara, the Chua West Legislator and head of the delegation, however, said Friday that the purpose of their meetings was to present key proposals of a wide range of socio-economic issues that have put the region in perpetual decline.
A section of opposition
legislators from the Acholi Sub-region has opened up on the reasons behind their
recent proposal to hold dialogue with the government. This comes amidst speculations
that some of the opposition legislators were negotiating to join the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Since September last
year, 10 opposition legislators from the region have been holding meetings with
top government officials, among them Gen Slim Saleh, the Chief Coordinator of
Operation Wealth Creation (OWC). The latest meeting was held on
Wednesday at Kacoke Madit Hotel in Gulu City with an eleven-man delegation
of government officials led by Gen David Muhoozi, the Minister of State for
Internal Affairs.
PP Okin Ojara, the Chua West
Legislator and head of the delegation, however, said
Friday that the purpose of their meetings was to present key proposals of a
wide range of socio-economic issues that have put the region in perpetual
decline. Okin said the perpetual decline
cuts across all domains of human development and is manifested in the high
levels of poverty, low education, incidence of mental health, high disease and
HIV burden, and low agricultural output and industrialization.
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According to Okin, they have
presented their propositions to the government on areas that need to be
addressed, which include compensation for lost livestock and property, fast-tracking of transitional justice law enactment, addressing land conflicts, and
ensuring sustainable land management.
Other areas are transparency and
inclusivity in the exploitation of minerals, oil and gas, monetizing the
economy, agricultural transformation from subsistence to commercial,
industrialization and education and skilling, among others.
Gilbert Olanya, the Kilak South
member of parliament, noted that while the NRM legislators sit in the NRM Caucus
where they discuss government matters, the opposition doesn’t have such access, which prompted them to come together and engage the government.
Olanya said the major issue that they
are pushing for is around the rampant land conflicts in the sub-region and
cattle compensation woes, which they want the government to intervene and
address permanently.
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Olanya noted that while they used
radical approaches in the past to demand government’s interventions, they have
devised a new approach of dialogue with the government in the best interest of
development for the Acholi people.
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Santa Okot, the Aruu North
Legislator in Pader District, said their engagement with the government, despite
being in an opposition political party, isn’t illegal because it’s being done
transparently. She noted that through their engagement, they will come out with
a working document that will help to guide the transformation of the Acholi
society from its current state, which has been destroyed by years of armed
violence.
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Kilak North Legislator Anthony
Akol, however, explained that the idea behind engaging with the government
started in September last year after President Museveni publicly asked for
forgiveness over mistakes made by his government on the people in the Acholi
sub-region. Akol said the President’s remarks sparked ideas of reconciliation
and plans of engaging the government on how other issues can be addressed.
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AKol noted that ever since they
started the engagement with the government, the process has been yielding fruits, adding that they expect their proposals to be embraced for the development of the Acholi Sub-region.
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Akol, who won the Kilak North Parliamentary
seat on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party ticket in 2021, has since
joined the NRM party.
