PEACE BUILDING WAS POSSIBLE-MUNKUNYU SUB COUNTY, KASESE DISTRICT LEADERS PLEDGE TO PROMOTE PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE

Munkunyu Sub county leadership in Kasese district have pledged to sensitize communities on peaceful co-existence after a highly powered sensitization  meeting took place  on Tuesday 19th, July, 2016  that was organised by Good hope Foundation for Rural Development with support from RWECO, Hivos and the European Union Delegation in Uganda. Good Hope is implementing a project on community action to prevent and manage conflict and human rights violations in the Rwenzori region. As a ground rule each participant was asked to talk in a language they felt comfortable with. 

Participants at the sensitization meeting at Munkunyu Sub county, 19th July, 2016

The participants were  drawn from the subcounty leadership including local council  (LCI-LCIII) executives, religious leaders representatives from farmers and pastoralists. The facilitator Mr. Isaac Bwalhuma a lawyer working with Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity informed the participants about the legal requirements of land ownership while quoting the Land Act and the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. Land was identified as the root cause of conflict  in the sub county and since the LCI courts were disbanded by order of Court, many errors were made by LCI executives in matters of land. The facilitator advised the LCI that their role was only to mediate in land issues and not make judgements as had been the case and land cases were taking a different twist of being violent.

The participants also were informed of the emotional statements of " EKITAKA KYA MAGHENDA" by the youth Councilor;  loosely  translated as  the land was gone  as being sensational instead people should invest in education and cutting on their cost of consumption. The RWECO Coordinator reminded  the communities instead of discussion issues of welfare were busy discussing division in the community. The Gombolala Internal Security Officer, was asked how many Lorries of cows are registered going to  the Border market in Bwera, he informed the house that 30 lorries carrying 20-25 cows are cleared at the Market in Bwera. One pastoralists was asked how much that could be in terms of money, he said each cow on average costs Ugs. 1,000,000/ translating into Ugx. 600,000,000/ per week. That was the money spent on cow meat, asked further what the lorries that bring into Kasese take out of Kasese, the participants answered non. Now who was responsible for taking the Shs. 600,000,000/ the citizens of Kasese? Another question, was whether the shs. 600M spent on meat was also reflected in the  number of Professors in Kasese district? the participants realised that it was only through such sensitization meetings that they could live peacefully with their neighbors.
Another issue  brought up during the meeting was about the River Kanyampara water channel that feeds the cattle crazing  in Nyakatonzi sub county, the participants suggested to meet the communities along the channel devise means of co-existing and using the channel with out causing conflict they were informed that the best time for the crop farmers to feed water into their gardens was at night, thus leaving water to flow to the cattle crazing during the day.  The Chairperson LCIII, Mr. Josephat Muhindo, the District woman Councilor and the District councilor were presented and pledged to mainstream conflict prevention into their work. The Chairperson LCIII, pledged to place a ramp at his office since the people with disabilities could not access his office easily. 


RWECO Team
Jimmy B. Odyek
Felestus Soki