Interim Paramount Chief Rwot Santo Richard Apire, inserted pressure on Paramount Chef Rwot David Onen Acana II, to linguistic power over corruption, following Donors Communities fallout with Acholi Traditional Cultural Chiefdom in 2013, the Spokesperson for The Interim Paramount chief Rwot Santo Richard Apire, Robert Adongakulu speak out during press conference called.
Theme; It is about Acholi and those who love Acholi. Thus, the entire Acholi community, locally and globally; born and unborn, to whom we are in trust and beholden.
Our esteemed colleagues, Rwodi Acholi, in your respective capacities
Civil Society Organizations; (CSOs) based in and interested in Acholiland
Development partners in your respective capacities
State and Nonstate actors in your respective capacities
Sister cultural institutions
The media and the entire public
Okumu Livingstone Langol
GULU CITY-WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5TH 2024.
The long awaited divisive tension between former Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana II, (Payira chiefdom) and the breakaway rival cultural chiefdom led by Rwot Santo Apire of Atiak Chiefdom.
Finally will come to an end as the interim rival calls for election on June 14, 2024.
Rwot Santo Richard Apire told his subjects during the press conference held at his palace in Lacor Center, on June 5th, 2024 that his prayer is on issues that will not put Acholi Sub Region on conflict again. He has planned to revise the cultural institution from the deploring cultural moral decadent to build new hope.
Added once Acholi Cultural Institution gave us the mandate as we are heading to elect a new Paramount Chief on June 14th, 2024. We have big programs to lead our people in the right direction of leadership, Rwot Apire remarked.
“We have our Donors partners who have cut tied with (Ker Kwaro Acholi) Cultural Institutions over the corruption, the Donors Partners, the Japanese International Agency for Development JICA, Danish International Agency for Development, USAID, Germany International
Development Cooperation, United Kingdom Aid and others who had withdrawn their support to rehabilitate Northern Uganda war rages. They are ready to support Acholi Sub Region to develop the post war recovery.” Rwot Apire says their funds are coming.
Rwot Apire says the Donors community is supporting all Kingdoms in Uganda including Cultural Institutions in Lango, Teso, West Nile, and Bukedi Sub Regions. The Donors Partners cannot give funds to support us because we lack leadership
Noting that the Acholi people living in Diaspora are ready to support the Cultural Institution, but they are annoyed how the Cultural Institution is being run without accounting to their subjects, our people have lost hope on the Institution, you send someone and assigned him or her to implement the program, he or she do contrary things.
For example, in the past when you find school children playing on the way, you punish that person, and send him or her to school, in the evening, you report to the parent that today I got your kid playing on the way. And that family will be happy and give more strokes to reprimand their kid. But, today no one will care to do that, once you reprimanded anybody kids, it will become a big issue, Human Rights Activists will come in, and this is not the way Acholi people do their thing.a, who is in-charge of mobilizing all the 58 Cultural Chiefdoms in Acholi revealed that he has distributed invitation letters inviting all the 58 chiefs to come and participate in scheduled election on 14th June, 2024. All the chiefs have confirmed him.
“And all of them have received invitation letters and signed in the delivery note book including the former Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana 11, Rwot of Payira chiefdom. All the chiefs are qualified to contest for the position of Paramount Chief.” Rwot Ojok Aginya remarked.
Robert Adongakulu, the Spokesperson reading the press statement insists that the current progressive Rwodi of Ker Kwaro Acholi (KKA) Entrusted with restoring the functionality and dignity of the Institution of KKA.
“(Tribe). Any attempt to portray us, as divided, and at war with each other, can only be dersionary, self-intentioned.” Adongakulu noted.
He further read, we here today, represent the same one Acholi, its internal contradictions notwithstanding. Let it also be abundantly clear that there are many non Acholi who feel for us-as Acholi. Such people shall always be unapologetically embraced in the spirit of our ancestors who bequeathed the land called Acholiland to us. Evidence of this category has been ably demonstrated during our low moments of insurgencies, as well as in well-meaning members of the community of Acholi, and globally attests to this.
He added that in partially, we have lived with internal contradictions.
Therefore, this has dearly played out at the heart of our cultural institution as embodied by the institution of KKA, based at (Wigot) the current palace of Paramount chief being occupied by Rwot David Onen Acana 11, formerly the paramount chief of Acholi. Gulu City, KKA is meant to hold office in trust for the Acholi people.
KKA spokesperson says let it be noted that the crisis that exploited at KKA in 2013, was as a result of disagreement between the then Prime Minister, Kenneth Oketta, and the Programme Officer, Okema Santo Lajec, over distribution of “goodies” from the misappropriation of resources, and most especially after the latter was summarily dismissed.
Obviously many unformatted things had happened, at times when Acholi Sub Region was consumed by insurgencies, throughout the post-war management, under the auspices of KKA.
Adongakulu says as intimated in the preamble, many non-Acholi; individuals, and institutions, came to our aid in our moments of need. In the latter category were Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Development Partners and other Non-State Agencies and actors.
This included Norwegian Refugees Council, (NRC), Action Aid Uganda, UNIFEM, Comboni Samaritan, and United State Agency for International Development (USAID) Medecen San Frontire (FSF), The European Union (E.U) Care, Caritas, to mention but a few.
Through these, Acholi was supported by several initiatives that ran in billions of Shillings in all major currencies of the world.
Whereas some work was indeed achieved and some results realized, it is also true that so much abuse was committed, as later established. A case in point was: a chicken egg for the cleansing ceremonies of the killing fields in Acholi was being paid for at Uganda Shillings 8,000 each, at the time. A donor representative actually cynically remarked that “This was as expensive as an Ostrich egg being flown by air from South Sudan”
Adongakulu argues that the suspicious financial management at KKA, (Wigot) palace was unearthed when Democratic Facilities (DGF), the then Basket Funding Mechanisms (BFM) of the Development Partners commissioned a Forensic Audit of the operations of KKA. Sadly, their worst fear of abuse was confirmed.
He furthermore revealed that several processes then followed to try to control the damage, the Local Council Five (LCV) Chairman of Gulu the then District Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, took it up with Acholi Members of Parliament Groups then Hon. Okumu Roland Reagan at an exclusive meeting at Paraa.
In mid 2013. Rwot Justine Ociti Binyi briefs the Acholi Members of Parliament (MPs), and Acholi Rwodi, on the crisis at KKA. As a follow up, a joint meeting of Acholi Elders, Religious leaders, political leaders and Rwodi convened at (Wigot) palace on 28th August, 2013.
Adongakulu in conclusion said, the recommendation that was reached among them was that the then Prime Minister, Oketta Kenneth, evacuate office immediately. This was not immediately done. Another conclusion was that the Head of Institution, Rwot David Onen Acana II was to recover all the money that was deeded lost, and reimbursed to DGF. This was hardly done.
He added that the Secretary of KKA was to be reconstituted, transparently and to represent all key stakeholders. This was not done much as the Secretariat either got disbanded or was reconstituted much later in the interest of the status quo, in Rwot David Onen Acana 11 sole interest.
A committee was formed, called the Donor Probe Committee, chaired by Hon Kidega Titus Lak, it was tasked to investigate what exactly happened and determine mitigation measures, and this was done.
Later a parallel Committee, the Constitutional Development Committee, chaired by Muzee Okwanga Latigo, later formed to come up with a constitutional framework that would govern business at KKA. This Committee was formed with a three months timeline, nothing was done.
Rwot John Obita Oganga outlined the programs will be conducted during election as follow:
The office bearer to be elected shall be (a) Lawirwodi, who will be the overall head of the Institution, of Ker KWARO Acholi, (b) Two Deputies, who will work with him in the dispensation of delegated duties and (c), a Speaker, who will moderate the proceeding of KKA.
THE Provisional Rule of Procedure of KER Kwaro Acholi and the Provisional code, as approved documents, shall guide the conduct of all the members of the Council of Chiefs, in particular during the aforementioned election of Lawirwodi Acholi, Deputies and Speaker.
The electoral College comprises of the Fifty Eighty (58) Rwodi of Acholi who are gazetted under KKA, since every bona fide Rwot in Acholi is to be equal in nature, under the Acholi culture, any one of them is eligible; to offer himself for any of the Four (4) positions due to filling
There is an electoral body of eminent persons to oversee and manage the electoral process; and there shall be a team of eminent Acholi Elders, Civil Society Organizations and Development partners who will be accredited to observe the process.
All relevant State organs; the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Kitgum, the District Police Commander (DPC) Kitgum and other sister agencies are notified and on board to do the needful.
Appointment of the technical staff to run the KKA, Secretariat shall be later following very stringent criteria, as provided under the Law
Rwot David Onen Acan II, the former paramount chief of KKA, still running the affairs of Acholi Ker Kwaro, when contacted he neither confirmed that he will attend the scheduled election that will take place on June 14, 2024. Nor denied.
“I am still in charge of Acholi Ker Kwaro, and I have been calling for the breakaway chiefs to come and we iron out the difference, ” Rwot David Onen Acana II said.
