Will Joseph Kony Stick with his Confessing Peace Emissaries?
Nobody seems to notice, or only cursorily and disinterestedly if at all, that Ojul and Dr. Obita et al are embarrassing themselves and have completely forgotten the Terms of Reference of their so called consultations. And they seem to make statements that they did not have authority to make at any one session of the Juba talks. But now, they seem to have very wide latitude to act without sprinting back to Garamba for debriefing and guidance and delegation on each and every line of contention. Now they seem possessed with their apologies that seem to undoubtedly propel them very openly and unguardely along the paddocks of the ICC tribunals. I have no doubt that Ocampo and the political and diplomatic powerbrokers are smiling and requisitioning bunkbeds for those cells for Joseph et al. Why not, with their heads of delegation making those confessions?
The peace negotiation is yet to be concluded and responsibility and accountability is still a contentious agenda, for crying out loud. If they know for a fact the LRA committed all these atrocities they are apologising for, why have they been wasting time with denials and the Juba talks and making our people continue to suffer in the concentration camps? They should have simply and readily owned up to the ICC indictments and presented themselves at the Hague and be done with. It is ridiculous for them to apologise for LRA atrocities in northern Uganda, including ambushes on Karuma-Pakwach highway, and as an afterthought, add that they are not the only ones who committed atrocities. As if that would help anymore than reinforce their confessions. Because the other party is suave, it will maintain its line and consistency of denial and denial and denial. In the end, the one who confessed must have been the sole perpetrators. You want evidence, roll that tape of Obita and Ojul singing like canaries. Case closed.
Not that anyone should care who goes and does not go to the Hague. But the carelessness and overenthusiasm of Dr, Obita and Ojul and their entourage may just irritate Joseph enough to say enough is enough and denounce the peace process and Ojul et al as double agents. Has Kony given permission for these guys to apologise for LRA atrocities he has consistently denied? I am tempted on hedging my bet on the notion that, this consultation process may not be concluded, or if it is concluded, its outcomes will be useless because Joseph Kony is going to denounce his so called emissaries. Yet my prayer is that, these guys know what they are doing and are not possessed by some demons or under spells that M7 seems to cast on his opponents that they lose control of their senses and thought. With such uncertainties and the unusual behaviour of LRA diplomats like Ojul and Dr Obita, the peace we crave seems so near yet so far away.
My point in bringing this up is the old and tired notion that other than the LRA and the Ugadan state, we the non-combatant Acholi are not organised and prepared to assert ourselves and let our voices be heard. We will be given a peace that is another disaster waiting to happen. We have kept quiet while the govt, the LRA and their respective international backers push a peace without justice down our throats. Peace and justice are not mutually exclusive. Unless we oppose this trend, we will end up with foxes being put in charge of chickens once again.....The Ochoras, the Otema Awanys, the Wii Lits, the Toolits, the Obwoya fearlesses and the Okettas are the loyalists from previous peace agreements that saw the more conscious compatriots such as Maj. Kilama part II, Lt. Col. Ochero Nangai, Col. Angelo Okello et al die under questionable circumstances. And the record and performance of these loyalists in Acholi are well known. They will soon be reinforced by fresh and overzealous lieutenants from the LRA-NRA peace talks and agreements ( when it comes). We already have had a foretaste of this from the behaviour of Banya, Kolo, Okwonga, Kamdulu, et al. Wait when their positions are strengthened by an agreement and official deployment. God help Acholi.
The same laxity we display with regard to the peace process is evident elsewhere. Buganda and Bunyoro are busy organising anti-CHOGM and anti-land reform bills. But honourable men and women of the Uganda Parliament and traditional leaders from Acholi, I uderstand, are instead busy ordering or making calls to their liason officers and briefcase carriers in London, New York, Paris, Washington and Brussels to purchase designer suits for the CHOGM conference in Kampala, Uganda. It seems that many are already spending more time craning their necks backwards, sideways and everywhichway, preening in front of their dressing mirrors than in the august chambers, building the nation.
Serious-minded and purposeful nationalities like the Baganda are seriously mobilising and winning concession after concessions from the state. For Acholi, they must wait and react to events; they are not strategic thinkers. They do not analyse and anticipate favourable and unfavourable events based on how the wind is blowing. They wait until the snake has slithered under their beds, then they begin to rush out to find a stick. And then they must now have to content with both locating the snake while moving cautiously because they do not know where it is and when it will strike and from which direction.
Take the land reform bill that may come to parliament soon. The Baganda have already formed a team to campaign against it. They have also expressed desires to ally with Acholi and others to fight this land bill. Moreover, Bunyoro too, is opposed to this land bill. I believe Acholi leaders need to get organised and get on board to act collaboratively with these other groups to assert regional interests that can go a long way in reforming how the central government deals with resource issues and other policy agenda of critical bearing on people's wellbeing and livelihoods.
Taking a broader view of affairs, we are all to blame. We killed the Acoli Forum directorates. But we write million words and spend billion man / woman hours arguing over nothing of consequences; for instance, the world university rankings. Surely, how much more can we say than once that Havard is ranked first and the rest as they are. After the old-boy network fact countered the notion that names have no weight, there was nothing more really to be added. But look at the mileage it is still garnering.
The peace negotiation is yet to be concluded and responsibility and accountability is still a contentious agenda, for crying out loud. If they know for a fact the LRA committed all these atrocities they are apologising for, why have they been wasting time with denials and the Juba talks and making our people continue to suffer in the concentration camps? They should have simply and readily owned up to the ICC indictments and presented themselves at the Hague and be done with. It is ridiculous for them to apologise for LRA atrocities in northern Uganda, including ambushes on Karuma-Pakwach highway, and as an afterthought, add that they are not the only ones who committed atrocities. As if that would help anymore than reinforce their confessions. Because the other party is suave, it will maintain its line and consistency of denial and denial and denial. In the end, the one who confessed must have been the sole perpetrators. You want evidence, roll that tape of Obita and Ojul singing like canaries. Case closed.
Not that anyone should care who goes and does not go to the Hague. But the carelessness and overenthusiasm of Dr, Obita and Ojul and their entourage may just irritate Joseph enough to say enough is enough and denounce the peace process and Ojul et al as double agents. Has Kony given permission for these guys to apologise for LRA atrocities he has consistently denied? I am tempted on hedging my bet on the notion that, this consultation process may not be concluded, or if it is concluded, its outcomes will be useless because Joseph Kony is going to denounce his so called emissaries. Yet my prayer is that, these guys know what they are doing and are not possessed by some demons or under spells that M7 seems to cast on his opponents that they lose control of their senses and thought. With such uncertainties and the unusual behaviour of LRA diplomats like Ojul and Dr Obita, the peace we crave seems so near yet so far away.
My point in bringing this up is the old and tired notion that other than the LRA and the Ugadan state, we the non-combatant Acholi are not organised and prepared to assert ourselves and let our voices be heard. We will be given a peace that is another disaster waiting to happen. We have kept quiet while the govt, the LRA and their respective international backers push a peace without justice down our throats. Peace and justice are not mutually exclusive. Unless we oppose this trend, we will end up with foxes being put in charge of chickens once again.....The Ochoras, the Otema Awanys, the Wii Lits, the Toolits, the Obwoya fearlesses and the Okettas are the loyalists from previous peace agreements that saw the more conscious compatriots such as Maj. Kilama part II, Lt. Col. Ochero Nangai, Col. Angelo Okello et al die under questionable circumstances. And the record and performance of these loyalists in Acholi are well known. They will soon be reinforced by fresh and overzealous lieutenants from the LRA-NRA peace talks and agreements ( when it comes). We already have had a foretaste of this from the behaviour of Banya, Kolo, Okwonga, Kamdulu, et al. Wait when their positions are strengthened by an agreement and official deployment. God help Acholi.
The same laxity we display with regard to the peace process is evident elsewhere. Buganda and Bunyoro are busy organising anti-CHOGM and anti-land reform bills. But honourable men and women of the Uganda Parliament and traditional leaders from Acholi, I uderstand, are instead busy ordering or making calls to their liason officers and briefcase carriers in London, New York, Paris, Washington and Brussels to purchase designer suits for the CHOGM conference in Kampala, Uganda. It seems that many are already spending more time craning their necks backwards, sideways and everywhichway, preening in front of their dressing mirrors than in the august chambers, building the nation.
Serious-minded and purposeful nationalities like the Baganda are seriously mobilising and winning concession after concessions from the state. For Acholi, they must wait and react to events; they are not strategic thinkers. They do not analyse and anticipate favourable and unfavourable events based on how the wind is blowing. They wait until the snake has slithered under their beds, then they begin to rush out to find a stick. And then they must now have to content with both locating the snake while moving cautiously because they do not know where it is and when it will strike and from which direction.
Take the land reform bill that may come to parliament soon. The Baganda have already formed a team to campaign against it. They have also expressed desires to ally with Acholi and others to fight this land bill. Moreover, Bunyoro too, is opposed to this land bill. I believe Acholi leaders need to get organised and get on board to act collaboratively with these other groups to assert regional interests that can go a long way in reforming how the central government deals with resource issues and other policy agenda of critical bearing on people's wellbeing and livelihoods.
Taking a broader view of affairs, we are all to blame. We killed the Acoli Forum directorates. But we write million words and spend billion man / woman hours arguing over nothing of consequences; for instance, the world university rankings. Surely, how much more can we say than once that Havard is ranked first and the rest as they are. After the old-boy network fact countered the notion that names have no weight, there was nothing more really to be added. But look at the mileage it is still garnering.
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