Uganda: Museveni’s Balalo Orders

President Yoweri Museveni has issued orders to evict all pastoralists (Bahima and Batutsi of Kinyankore and Kinyarwanda culture) from the Acholi region. These people, who are commonly referred to as Balalo, migrated to Acholi in search of land. Many of them sold their land, houses, and other assets in Western and Central Uganda, where land is scarce, and migrated to Acholi, where land is more abundant. In Acholi, they either bought or rented land from local people and settled there with their cows.

Some local elites in Acholi, led by the Chief Justice Owiny Dolo, began a campaign against Balalo. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact complaint against Balalo because this section of Acholi elites raises different issues at different times. Initially, they claimed Balalo had “grabbed” land from Acholi peasants. Balalo produced purchase and/or rental agreements with local people. These elites now claimed Balalo’s cows were eating the crops of Acholis (kwonesa). Museveni ordered Balalo to fence their land and create water sources inside their land or face eviction. Balolo complied.

On Wednesday, I appeared on television with the minister for Northern Uganda, Kenneth Omona, and the former MP for Agago and former leader of the opposition, Morris Ogenga Latigo, to discuss this issue. I listened to these two gentlemen in silent wonderment and failed to get their point. This is because they raise a hotchpotch of issues that are difficult to comprehend.

Latigo claimed Balalo had failed to integrate into the local community. Should anyone lose their cultural identity because they have left their “ethnic home” and settled elsewhere in the country? That Balalo buy land from impoverished Acholis cheaply. Who determines the value of land: Latigo or the market? Omona made a similar claim that the Acholi have just come out of internally displaced people’s camps (it’s 20 years now) and are poor and vulnerable. So Balalo buy land from them at giveaway prices.

A Mulalo interested in land meets the family or clan that owns the land. The family/clan writes and signs a declaration to sell the land. The meeting is attended by the Rwot Kweri, (cultural institution land representative) and local council officials. Then land is surveyed, a price is negotiated for purchase or rental, and the transaction is concluded. The purchase or rental agreement is endorsed and stamped by local council officials. Any Mulalo intending to take cows there must have all these documents from LC1, 2, and 3, plus the GISO confirming purchase or rental of land.

Then the Mulalo goes to the District Veterinary Officer (DVO), the LC5 chairman, and the RDC to get approvals. With this pile of documents, the Mulalo goes to the ministry of agriculture, where the minister MUST personally sign a certificate of compliance. Then a Mulalo gets a letter from the commissioner for animal health in the ministry of agriculture, which he takes to the DVO of his home area to be allowed to transport cows to Acholi. Obviously, not every Mulalo followed this process, but a majority have.

Why then is Museveni evicting Balalo? No one’s land has been grabbed forcefully from them. Besides, if that happened, the offender(s) should be punished as individuals, not the entire community. Aren’t Ugandans allowed to buy land and settle in any part of this country? Many Acholi leaders, including Dolo, have bought land and built homes in Kampala. Should Baganda ask for all of them to be evicted? In Toro (where I come from), many people from all over Uganda, but especially Bakiga and Banyarwanda, have settled there. Initially some elites tried to turn this into an ethnic issue but were resisted. Today we all live together in harmony. Hence some of the MPs from Toro are Banyarwanda, Bakiga, Bahima, etc.

The idea that Acholi peasants are being given low prices for their land is ridiculous. It is not only the Balalo who are buying land in Acholi. Some Europeans, Chinese, and Indians have bought land in Acholi for large-scale farming. Many Acholi elites are also buying land in Acholi. The Acholi politicians are not asking for a freeze on land purchases or rentals generally. Their claim is specific to one community, the Balalo. That is ethnic politics. I am disappointed that Museveni has joined this ethnicized anti-Balalo campaign.

This ethnic antagonism is a creation of colonial politics of divide and rule that post-independence African elites have bought into, often with catastrophic consequences. For instance, it is not true that Luos and Balalo are different people. I am inclined to believe that many Balalo are descended from Luos. My wife is a Muhima from Nkore. She has brothers who are tall, dark with black gums. Put on a street in Gulu or Lira, they are indistinguishable from local Acholis and Langis. I meet Tutsi of similar looks. The shared physical features are complemented by cultural ones.

For instance, Latigo’s middle name is Ogenga. Banyarwanda have a name, Mugenga, which I suspect is a Bantunized version of Ogenga. In Tooro, we refer to Langi, Acholi and Alur as Abakidi. Our former king was called Rukidi, meaning son of Bakidi. The grandfather of the current director of legal affairs at KCCA, Frank Rusa, was called Mukidi, i.e., Alur, Langi, or Acholi. The Langi and Acholi have a name, Okidi, in place of our Mukidi or Rukidi. In my homestead in Kanyandahi, I have two nephews: Ocaaki and Oli. Another cousin is called Ocaya. This is not to mention our king being called Oyo or having names like Okwiri, Olimi, or Oleeti. The empaako of Batoro and Banyoro are all Luo words.

Therefore, many Balalo have Luo (and Ethiopian and Somali) ancestry. When they go to acquire land in Acholi, they are returning home. I feel a strong affinity to Luos in large part because when I recite my ancestors’ names, after the fifth, the rest of the names begin with O. Who is Omona or Latigo to deny my right to return home with my cows if land in Kanyandahi is limited? This is ethnic politics that we must reject.

Museveni is opening a Pandora’s box when he supports the idea that land ownership must be based on one’s ethnicity. That to buy and own land in Toro, one must be a Mutoro; in Buganda, a Muganda. This was the colonial policy. It undermined the evolution of a shared national identity and consciousness. Every African saw themselves as members of a tribe, not the country. It MUST end NOW!

By Independent (Kampala).