The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The region has also had incidents of inter- and intra- ethno-political violence since 2002 including the 2014 simultaneous attacks on military installations and infrastructure by civilians in Kasese, Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts and the 2016 post elections violence in Bundibugyo District.
Since colonial times, the approach used by different governments to respond to the Rwenzori region conflicts has been that of criminalisation. What is now clear is that it is impossible to build true peace based on criminalisation of violence in this region. The violence is rooted in shared political, economic and social constituencies that feel betrayed, marginalised and not respected as deserving citizens of Uganda. The approach of criminalisation is unsustainable and is based on the notion of political abstractions, that is, using propaganda to reduce the shared concerns of the people and communities to the ideas we have of them, and thus denying them the intrinsic value from their lived realities and experiences.
The spirit of political abstraction creates generalisation and rationalisation of the stronger party without deeply listening to the fears, hopes and the unique lived experience of the victims or perceived victims. The approach depersonalises the realities of the people and sends them in isolation and rejection. It is a prescriptive approach that is void of clear understanding of the context, realties, and root-causes that underlie the conflict, either intentionally or accidently.
All the different stakeholders in the country have asked the government and President Yoweri Museveni to dialogue with the people of Rwenzururu. As a country, we should not use the legal system to strip the Rwenzururu conflict of its historical and political context. We should not believe that legal prescription through criminal justice is the only politically viable and morally acceptable response to violence and the challenges that the region has faced over the years.
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Elijah Kisembo is Performance Improvement Manager
