From the Field: Ugandan Government Slow to Fulfill Promises

This is part of an occasional series with first-hand reports from those working in some of the more difficult corners of the world.

This post is by Jon Marino, writing from northern Uganda. To read Jon's previous posts, see here.

Jon is a Fulbright Scholar who conducts research on conflict and recovery, while also serving as country director of assetmap.org, a new initiative that helps communities use the internet to discover and connect the resources they have for their own development.

Ugandan government slow to fulfill promises in Northern Uganda

Twenty-three years of conflict have taken their toll on Northern Uganda. Schools and health centers are destroyed, roads are in disrepair, and good farmland lays fallow. A 2002 study by the Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) concluded that the war has resulted in $1.3 billion of economic loss for the region.  It would be interesting to see an updated figure that incorporates the last seven years.

In October 2007 the Government of Uganda launched the Peace, Recovery, and Development Plan (PRDP) to achieve post-conflict reconstruction in the north. Hailing it as “Uganda’s Marshall Plan”, the government pledged to spend over $600 million to address the inequality between the north and the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, the government’s deeds have yet to match its words.

Now almost 20 months past the PRDP’s launch, the government has yet to allocate any new funding for the plan. At an event I organized with the Refugee Law Project in February, Mr. Pius Bigirimana, a key government official in charge of PRDP implementation, admitted that government has thus far been “soft pedaling” and that real money won't begin flowing for the PRDP until July 2009 when a new fiscal year begins.

(Check out www.refugeelawproject.org to see Mr. Bigirimana’s presentation, as well as a paper I’ve written on this topic entitled Is the PRDP Politics as Usual?)

Why does this matter? Here’s my take…

Although the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is an illegitimate and barbaric rebellion without a cause, the people of Northern Uganda have many legitimate grievances against the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party that need to be addressed. During the past twenty years of NRM rule, northerners have been consistently left out of decision-making processes and development opportunities. A 2005 survey shows that GDP per household in the north is about $110, less than half the country average. What’s worse, the government has often used “development plans” intended for Northern Uganda as mechanisms to enrich local elites and extend political patronage rather than seriously addressing the problem.

Now, as the residents of the north finally see a glimpse of hope caused by the Juba Peace Talks between the LRA and the Ugandan Government, their government has decided to “soft-pedal”. Additionally, the PRDP zone of coverage has now been expanded to districts in eastern Uganda such as Mbale, which haven’t been seriously affected by the conflict.

Slowly but surely, civil society is starting to pick up on the government’s failure to act on the PRDP. A coalition of organizations recently held a press conference in Kampala demanding action. Also, the American advocacy organization Resolve Uganda is lobbying the US government to pass a bill combining the promise of increased aid to Uganda with additional pressure on the government to implement the PRDP.

I hope the efforts of these groups succeed because, if they don’t, the political, economic, and social marginalization of Northern Uganda will continue, and the hope for sustainable peace in the country will remain just that…a hope.

[Minister for Relief, Refugees, and Disaster Preparedness, Mr. Musa Ecweru opens a workshop in Soroti, Uganda in May 2008 on PRDP implementation - Photo by Jon Marino]