UGANDA: ACHOLI ROCO PACO GIVES HOPE TO REVIVE CULTURE, EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH AND GET ROYALTY FROM MINERAL WEALTH – PROF. OBWOYA SAM KINYERA

Prof. Obwoya Sam Kinyera, the Executive Director of Rocco Paco, the Acholi Cultural Revival Initiative in his office (Photo Credit: Chowoo Willy.
What is “Roco Paco”, Acholi cultural revival? Prof. Obwoya Kinyera Sam, the first Executive Director of Gurre Madit me Pongdwongo, codenamed Roco Paco explains all about the movement.
GULU CITY-WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2024
By Livingstone Okumu Langol
On Friday December 27, 2024, all the roads will be leading to Restore Leadership Academy, estimated to be 10 kilometers North-West of Gulu City on Juba Road. Scores of the Acholi community and a few other well-wishers will be attending the second Gurre me Pongdwongo, Roco Paco which was founded by Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo Chigamoi and Amb. Dr. Olara Otunnu.
The Black star News correspondent caught up with Prof. Obwoya Kinyera Sam the Executive Director of Gurre me Pongdwongo on a one-on-one interview to explore what Rocco Paco Acholi Cultural Revival means and he poured out his heart.
Qs: Prof. Sam Obwoya Kinyera, you are the first Executive Director of Gurre Pongdwongo, Acholi cultural revival, what does Roco Paco really mean when the Acholi new generation have lost attachment with their cultural norms and adopted western culture?
Prof. Sam Obwoya Kinyera: Roco Paco is the only serious event that has occurred in my life, that has taken significant steps to revamp Acholi cultural decadence brought about by the Northern Uganda over two-decade insurgency. Rocco Paco is tangible community revival movement.
Roco Paco is equipped with a Strategic Development Framework (SDF) that will help to unite all Acholi people in all walks of life, we should embrace Roco Poco with a big agenda of development.
Roco Paco Strategic Development Frameworks has four pillars: the first Acholi cultural revival was initiated because of the cultural moral decadence, loss of Acholi identity, language, beliefs. The Acholi calamity started in 1971, when Idi Amin, the then Uganda Army Commander toppled Uganda People’s Congress’ Obote I government that led to alienation of the entire able brains in Acholi.
After taking over the government from the UPC, President Amin turned his guns against the Acholi, slaughtered innocent people, civil servants, academics, private businessmen, the religious and brought the Acholi community to their knees.
The Acholi cultural revival movement is a movement towards improving the way our people currently live and work, having turned destitutes, and a shadow of their former shelves.
The Acholi cultural revival, Roco Paco will reintroduce what used to be their cultural traditions to be restored back.
The Acholi community must stand up to be counted and defend Acholi traditional culture, let us be with humility, discipline, respect, honesty, informed-obedience and above all, let our people stand for the truth.
Acholi cultural revival, Roco Paco has the belief that all the Acholi community has hope to restore past glory, for example, reviving Wang Oo – fire place informal education, story-telling, educative folklores and parables, hide and seek games which are no longer in practice.
Secondly, we need to address issues pertaining to the eroded education standards in Acholi. The education performance in Acholi, in the 1950s-1970s was second to East Mengo. As it is now, all of us are seeing that schools in Acholi sub region are performing poorly, the worst in the regions. This, despite the fact teachers in Uganda all qualify from the same Universities using the same curricula. The government of Uganda must unite with this revival movement as part of the post LRA war recovery.
The Acholi cultural revival stands to correct factors that lead to the poor education performance, address issues of teacher motivation, and empower them with scholastic materials.
As it is, most schools in Acholi sub region do not have modern laboratory equipment compared to schools in the Central and western region. The school fees being paid by parents in other regions to empower education is not being done here. We have to unite to work towards addressing these pertinent issues affecting our educational performance.
Our community must support education by contributing to Dero Kwan – pooling funds to support education.
Thirdly, the Acholi revival movement initiative stands for the mitigation of environmental degradation and the protection of the biodiversity, flora and fauna in the region to attract tourists.
By 1986, the Acholi sub region was having a forestry cover of 70 percent, but this has been reduced to 7 percent tree coverage. This has negatively affected the rain pattern in the region. The tree cover that used to mitigate environmental degradation have been destroyed.
The Acholi sub-region used to produce millet, cassava, simsim, Sorghum, cotton and tobacco in bigger quantities but these are no more. Farmers were able to predict the rain patterns and comfortably plant their crops for two seasons with the month of March to early June, then early July to December being wet periods that supported two good rounds of planting but today as we speak, farmers are not able to predict when it is the dry season and when it is the rainy one.
The Acholi revival movement of Roco Paco is telling us that as part of restoring sanity, we have to embark on tree planting. We have a programme of $350 million for tree planting, we need each household to plant at least 10 seedlings.
We have seen traditional trees like Africana Afrizela Beyo, Teak tree, Tido tree, Oduru, Pwoyo, Olam and shea butter trees all being largely cut by charcoal businessmen. This has denuded the Acholi sub region of indigenous trees. The tree species need to be re-planted as part of the national tree planting initiative.
The Acholi revival movement has also come up with a plan to reintroduce perennial crops which were not produced in Acholi Sub Region, such as coffee, cocoa, macademia avocado etcetera. The reliance on annual crops that needs constant labour force needs to change. When you plant these perennial crops, you will harvest twice in a year, Roco Paco wants Acholi people to have money in their hands, from household to household. Our parents will be able to send their children to school with good income from these perennial crops.
More still, the Acholi Sub Region has witnessed cattle rustling. By the 1980s the entire population of about 2 million heads of animals were looted by the Karamojong and some were lost to fighting soldiers on either sides, government and rebels. Those who had animals have lost all of them. Restocking should be one key agenda of Roco Paco.
We need to put in place mechanization equipment as part of the revival agricultural system.
We need to have universities and powerful schools in the region to produce high quality scholars. We need universities in the region to produce quality engineers, doctors, surveyors and lawyers and we need to attract them to remain in Acholi after studies.
Fourth, we need to address health issues. Acholi sub region suffered with Ebola, Hepatitis B and C, nodding syndrome, COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS is still a big threat. When we have the right health experts, we can more effectively fight against the pandemics. In Acholi sub region, Gulu City has the highest numbers of sexual workers that might have contributed to the high numbers of HIV prevalence in northern Uganda.
Gulu Regional Referral Hospital has only two consultant doctors. If we have a better education facility in the north, it would make a huge difference to fight against these health problems.
Lastly, the Acholi sub region is also endowed with minerals including oil and gas. The Acholi should be in charge of the mineral wealth or at least be leading beneficiaries. we should have control over them, so that we get royalty for the Acholi region.
In the whole of Acholi, we do not have any industry, and because of that, we need to invest and partner with some investors. When we have industries, we create jobs for our youths and we get entrepreneurs to be based in Acholi sub region.
We shall have multi-businesses, Roco Paco is not about the initiator, but about individuals of the Acholi community regardless of party, colour, tribe and that is what the Acholi Strategic Development Framework agenda of Roco Paco stands for.
For starters, Obwoya Sam Kinyera is a professor of material science. He is an academic who served at Kyambogo University as a professor. He was formerly chairman of the governing council of the Uganda Institute of Communication Technology and also served as a Deputy Executive of the National Planning Authority. He took the executive directorship of Rocco Paco on November 11, 2024.