Sugar production could begin in Amuru district as soon as July next year. You will be excused if you think this is straight out of a fairy tale, for Amuru has built a hard reputation as place where you don’t kid with the land of the poor; where women have mastered the art of weaponising their bodies to protest land grabs by the powerful, including from a fabulously rich sugar baron.
How come then that a sugar factory is rising in the same Amuru?
The land on which the multi-million dollar factory is being built is the same as where in January 2013, Democratic Party President Norbert Mao and two foreign investors were reported to have been roughed by a mob claiming to be un-consulted owners of the land on which the DP leader and the investors were.
After the incident, the area member of parliament, Gilbert Olanya, a populist whose political career is built on, and powered by land was quoted by the Daily Monitor (Jan 28, 2015) as thanking his constituents for ‘‘defending’’ their land. But in an apt reminder that a sword is double-edged, Olanya has since survived lynching in Amuru by a mob armed with sticks and bows– also claiming to be defending their land.
Gem village in Attiak Sub County, not far from the South Sudan border, is where the sugar factory is being built by Dr Amina Hersi Morghe, a Kenyan entrepreneur with multiple business interests in Uganda.
About a fortnight ago, Mao, Olanya, deputy speaker Jacob Oulanyah and Agago North MP –elect Prof Ogenga Latigo and a bevy of other Acholi political heavy weights were at the factory site. Dr Morghe, the CEO of Horyal Investment Holding Company limited, the firm which owns the Attiak sugar factory had travelled to meet and speak to the community and leaders from the Acholi region.
The Acholi leaders were unified and were all praises for the investor including vocal Olanya. ‘‘This is what we want. Investors should speak directly to land owners,’’ Olanya told a local radio and went on to issue a stern warning to grumbling locals who had set ablaze a cane plantation: ‘‘ You will be dealt with by the law.’’
If you travel in Amuru, you will be shocked by the sheer size and mechanisation at some of the commercial farms. But most, if not all, have a common denominator: they are on privately owned land.
I have argued before(else where) that the poor and rich in Acholi are moving at a different pace when it comes to investment, with the rich moving faster and getting richer.
The sugar factory in Amuru is on private property.
Families that own chunks of land in Acholi are comparatively better off, educated, exposed, connected, and decisive on what they want to do with/on their property. By contrast, the rural poor who communally own land are unconnected, unexposed, indecisive and are prone to machinations from scavengers, shadowy fixers and populist politicians.
The lesson learnt so far is that the nature of land ownership is determining the pace of investment in Acholi. That the rich and exposed are seeing strategic value of investing on their land, under terms agreeable to them, should serve as an eye opener to the poor but large land owners to strengthen the legal hold on their property and make it attractive for investment.
Land is a precious asset. But for the benefit out of it to be reaped to improve livelihoods, it must be productively used and not just held for sentimental value.
The writer is interest in media development, communications and public affairs
