Many thought John Otim, a resident of Lakwanga, Amuru district of northern Uganda, a maniac, for returning to the killing fields in 2008; and indulge in organic cotton growing, dreaming of becoming rich and powerful.
Land mines were everywhere and rebels of Lords Resistance Army still roamed in this desolate area .Lives of most were still a mess, battered by the 22 year insurgency. Local economy had also taken a $10bn financial hit according to government records.
Forced on to live on his wits, Otim descended on this death ground with nothing but enterprising spirit.
The 28 year old teamed with 30 others to form village self-help group. They took turns to dig each others plot, a cost-effective method that gradually replaced extended family in supplying labour.
“War weakened Acholi culture and traditional cohesiveness of clans and tribes, allowing in place a new social dynamic,” says Fabius Okumu-Alya, Law lecturer and Director Institute of peace and security, Gulu University.
Otim’s cotton project is bearing fruits. His income has risen to $5,000 annually, thanks in part, to expatriate businessmen.
Bruce Robertson, a South African venture capitalist staked $2.2m last January to form Gulu Agricultural Development Company (GADC) that buys gins and teach 42,000 cotton farmers business methods.
“GADC breathes new life in cotton industry by equipping farmers with skills to compete in global market,” says Robertson.
The likes of Bruce embraced government open door policy on economy that allowed them to replace state-owned marketing boards that had stifled farmers’ progress.
Dunevant, a Norwegian firm, supplies input and purchases lint from farmers in next door Lango region. Agro-Eco and Glo-link, a Swedish consultancy firm sharpens skills and competence.
Farmers’ bargaining power also improved when Dutch-based African Farmers Trade Associates BV formed Farmers Fair Trade Company-FFTU.
”Farmers have guaranteed profit margin of 15%” wrote Annabelle Malini and Valerie Nelson, who studied how ethical trade has sustained livelihood of FFTU members for DFID.
Cotton farming has raised farmers’ economic status. Jolly Sabune, CEO of Cotton Development Organisation, a government body, said cotton farmers earned the equivalent of $60m in 2010. Farming, it appears, has also planted seeds of democratic socialism in Uganda.
“Expansion of organic cotton scheme on a village to village basis appears to have provided a relatively equable basis for participation,” Malini and Nelson noted.
Farmers are now flexing their muscles on the local and international marketing systems.
Naftali Ndugire, contracted by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to study Organic farming in Eastern Africa in 2008 discovered that National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU) with 26,000 farmers exported $2.8m worth of organic cotton, out of the $24.5m organic exports.
NOGAMU compelled expatriate super markets to purchase 30% of their commodities from local farmers.
Farmers groups are evolving into a political force. They have revived cooperatives ideology that had been subverted by government and resist land take away by big business.
Researchers discovered that 51% of farmers see land disputes as a clear and present danger. UNHCR said last December that 76,000 internal refugees refused to return to their villages as a result.
Battle lines have sharpened this ideological stance between mainstream opposition and the ruling National Resistance Movement.
Livingstone Okello Okello led Acholi Parliamentary Group (APG) campaign against Madhivan taking 20,000 hectares for his $80m Sugarcane project.
Madhivani, the largest Asian group in Uganda with assets worth $200m, threw its weight around, promising 5,000 jobs and sub-contracting 7,000 out-growers. He has also aligned himself with the military and powerful figures in government.
Residents did not trust Madhivan. The firm took their land while still in camps. Major General Julius Oketa’s dubious documentation – alleging to have sought approval – assisted to by local government, stirred the pot.
The High Court stopped Madhivan from taking the land on April 4 2011, enraging those on Madhivan side.
Lt Col Felix Kulayigye, army spokesman-who sees the Madhivan project within security framework “for it promotes bilateral trade with Sudan”, ultimately leading to peaceful co-existence-felt it is none of the opposition’s business to interfere.
“Okello does not even hail from the district,” Kulayigye said. Madhivan alludes political maneuvers to get its way.
Yoweri Museveni, the president, turned traditional chiefs into civil servants to allow projects through. Betty Bigombe, who won parliamentary seat where Madhivan is setting up, and formerly a World Bank staff, is also pro-corporate.
Nevertheless, Madhivan opponents have put themselves in harms way.
Professor Ogenga Latigo, leader of opposition and APG member survived two accidents that nearly cost his life, rousing suspicions of an invisible hand.
Okello, muscled out of the February 18 parliamentary race, reported death threats to Police and of being stalked by men in the shadows.
Anti-Madhivan sentiments ride high among local residents who point to Madhivan’s failure to improve lives in eastern Uganda where its other sugar project has been for over 60 years
“Madhivan will take it over our dead bodies,” vowed Bosco Lomino. Yet Museveni is taking a firm stand on land. On August 13 he instructed the Minister of Lands, Daudi Migereko to ensure that land fragmentation does not occur in Lango, Karamoja and Acholi regions in northern Uganda. And that the land should be reserved for big Asian investors.
Nevertheless, the revival of the cooperative movement belt is consolidating ground as it extends to other regions in Uganda in preparation to regain political clout.
Nandala Mafabi another opposition politician has been instrumental in reviving the Bugishu Coffee cooperative which in less than a year has seen price rise for its members from $0.4 per kilo to $4 and projected to hit $10 by the end of 2011.
For this, Mafabi has reached cult status. And he is now leader of opposition in Parliament. He defeated Dr Beatrice Wabudeya, minister of presidency, to regain his parliamentary seat in the February 18 2011 elections.
He caught public imagination with his ruthless determination in exposing powerful ministers-part of $500m CHOGM corruption scandal-when he chaired the public accounts committee.
Mafabi’s next move to get at those behind $400m scam in National Agricultural Advisory Services was scuttled when government put the process to a full stop. But not before he put many to shame.
”In Uganda mob justice through lynching is outdated. Now people undress culprits, leaving them to walk away in shame,” Mafabi said, adding “that’s what I have done to ministers”.
Scholars like Mahmoud Mamdani of Makerere University realize that government is ill-prepared to face a new political force, which is increasingly difficult to confuse. He thinks government should drop the big man mentality.
“There is need to come up with new language of politics,” Mamdani counsels, concluding, ”real challenge is forging new politics on basis of new associations and new imagination”