To Be a Chief and to Remain a Chief
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TO BE A CHIEF AND TO REMAIN A CHIEF The Production of Customary Authority in Post-Post Conflict Northern Uganda Dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirement for Ph.D in Political Sciences Sophie Komujuni, Ghent University – 2019 Promoter: Prof. Dr. Karen Büscher Co-promoter: Prof. Dr. Koen Vlassenroot LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AYSD- Acholi Youth for Sustainable Development ARLPI- Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative ACFODE- Action for Development ACORD- Agency for Cooperation and Reseach in Development DFID- Department for International Development FIDA- The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers GUSCO- Gulu Support the Children Organisation GWED-G- Gulu Women's Economic Development and Globalisation HURINET- Human Rights Network HSMF- Holy Spirit Mobile Forces JASLF- Joint Acholi Sub-Region Leaders Forum JRP- Justice and Reconciliation Project KKA- Ker Kwaro Acholi LC- Local Council MSF- Médecins sans Frontières NRM- National Resistance Movement NUDIEL- Northern Uganda Development of Enhanced Local Governance Infrastructure and Livelihoods NUHITES- Northern Uganda – Health Integration to Enhance Services NUMAT- Northern Uganda Malaria AIDS and Tuberculosis Program NUSAF- Northern Uganda social Action Fund NUPI- Northern Uganda Peace Initiative NUTI- Northern Uganda Transitional Initiative PRDP- Peace Recovery and Development Plan RCS- Resistance Councils UNFEM- United Nations Development Fund for Women. UPDM/A- Uganda People's Democratic Movement/ Army UWONET– Uganda Women's Network Contents LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SUMMARY SAMENVATTING Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Introducing the Problem Statement and Main Research Question 1.2. Socio-Political Setting of the Research: ‘Post-Post’ Conflict Northern Uganda 1.3 The Production of (Legitimate) Customary Authority: Definitions 1.4. Conceptual Framework 1.4.1. The Actors and Practices: The Chief, Chieftaincy, Chiefing, Chiefly Authority and Chiefship 1.4.2. Custom in the Form of Registers, Repertoires and Resources 1.5. Being a Chief and Remaining a Chief: Customary Strategies of Navigating and Repositioning 1.5.1. Ever-Adapting Chiefs 1.5.2. Brokerage and Extraversion 1.6. Outline of the Dissertation Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1. Studying Customary Authority (and its Challenges): Who, What, Where and How? 2.2. Fieldwork and research design, selection of case-studies and informants 2.3. Research Methods 2.4. Limitations 2.5. On Positionality I: Inside yet being outside 2.6. On Positionality II: Research Fatigue and Expectations Chapter 3. Acholi Cultural Institution: History and Production of Authority 3.1 Introduction 3.2. Pre-Colonial Acholi Chiefs 3.3. Slave and Ivory Traders 3.4. Traditional Authority under Colonial Administration 3.5. Acholi Customary Authority in the Post-Colonial Regimes 3.6. Changing Political order under Violent Conflict in Acholiland 3.7. Rwodi as Key Peace Negotiators and the ‘Revival’ of Acholi Customary Authority 3.8. Conclusion Chapter 4. Peacebuilding, Reconstruction and Reconciliation: Acholi Customary Authority through External Interventions in Northern Uganda 4.1. Introduction 4.1.1. The ‘Local Turn’ in Peacebuilding 4.1.2. Traditional - Transitional Justice 4.1.3. Development Brokerage 4.2. Northern Uganda: From Humanitarianism to Peacebuilding and the Process of NGO- isation of Acholi society 4.3. Cleansing and Reconciliation Rituals: Customary Practices at Work 4.3.1. Acholi Customary Leaders and the ‘Local’ Approach to Justice and Reconciliation 4.3.2. Staged Rituals and Performances: Institutionalising Customary Authority through Institutionalising a Ritual 4.4. Further Institutionalisation and NGO-isation of Customary Authority 4.4.1. Ker Kwaro Acholi, The Customary Institution 4.4.2. Customary Chiefs as Development Brokers 4.4.3. Legitimacy: A Difficult Balance 4.5. Conclusion Chapter 5. Customary Authority after – Aid: Institutional Crisis and its Effects 5.1. Introduction: Changing Aid Landscapes Northern Uganda 5.2. Donor Exit: ‘Extraversion Etrategies’ Under Pressure 5.3. KKA and the Institutional Breakdown of Customary Authority 5.4. Upward vs Downward Accountability 5.5. Re-connecting to Remaining Donors by Mobilising the Right Repertoires: ‘To Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk’ 5.6. Re-connecting to the State 5.6. Conclusion: Re-connecting to the Communities? Seeking the Balance between Extraversion and Introversion Chapter 6. Kwero Deyo pa Acoli: The Acholi Cultural Festival and Customary Institutional Revival 6.1. Introduction 6.2. The Proceedings 6.3. The Festival from day 1-3: A Thick Description 6.4. A Cultural ‘Revival’? 6.5. Underneath the Image of Unity and Harmony... 6.6. The Politics of the 'Festive State' 6.7. Conclusion Chapter 7. ‘Big men’ Customary Authority 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Bigmanity 7.3. The Paramount Chief, 'His Highness' Rwot David Onen Acana II 7.4. Rwot Yusuf Okwonga Adek, the ‘Rebel’ Chief and his Network 7.4.1. A contested Installation: The Creation of a Chiefdom 7.4.2. Adek’s Chiefly Resources and Registers: The Creation of Rwotship 7.4.3 Further Constructing and Imagining his Chiefdom through Chiefly Practices and Registers 7.4.4. Becoming a Big Man, Creating his ‘Network’ 7.5. Conclusion 8.1. Introduction: Performing Rwotship in a Post-Post Conflict Setting 8.2. Rwot Apire of Atiak Chiefdom 8.2.1. Historical Trajectories Shaping Present-Day Positions 8.2.2. Apire’s Repertoires and Resources of Rwotship: Modernity, State Connections and ‘Being close from a Distance’ 8.2.3. Apire’s Repertoires: Community Project Development and Protecting (?) The Land 8.2.4. Rwotship and Patronage: Who Needs NGOs, if you have the Government? 8.3. Rwot Baptist Latim of Pawel Chiefdom 8.3.1. Short History of Pawel Chiefdom 8.3.2. Performing rwotship: The Chiefly Power of Celebrations 8.3.3. A Rwot Addressing Women’s Rights 8.4. Rwot Acaye Michael of Koro Chiefdom 8.4.1. A Chief yet to be crowned 8.4.2. Chiefly Services: Handling Issues of Suicide, Accidents and Land 8.5. Post-Post Conflict Rwotship and its Current Everyday Manifestation 8.5.1. Changing Customary Roles and Practices 8.5.2. No Legitimacy without Material Resources to Sustain Chiefly Practices 8.5.3. Applying Changing Repertoires 8.5.4 Performing Rwotship through Visibility and Proximity 8.6. Conclusion Chapter 9. General Conclusion 9.1. ‘What after?’ Customary Authority in the Post-Post Conflict Political Arena 9.2. Customary Authority Today: From Extraversion to Introversion? 9.3. Being a Chief and Remaining a Chief: on Customary ‘Resilience’ 9.4. The politics of custom: the issue of land 9.5. Directions for Further Research Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Starting out five years back with barely any confidence in myself and lacking research skills, I can only be grateful for thus far I have come. This PhD has only been possible because of the many wonderful people I met along the way, people to whom I owe so much gratitude. First, I am grateful to the VLIR-UOS sponsored project Governance and post-conflict reconstruction in northern Uganda. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to every member of that project who has made it possible for me to reach this final step of the PhD. Special thanks to Katleen, Nancy, An, Waiswa Ben, Prof. Karen and Prof. Kristof Titeca for every assistance with the scholarship. In a special way, I am very grateful for securing me completion funds, and providing me the possibility to complete this PhD. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my supervisors; Prof. Dr. Karen Büscher and Prof. Dr. Koen Vlassenroot. Every discussion I had with you was very illuminating and this PhD attests to that; a successful evolution of vague ideas into a researchable topic and a finished dissertation. I have certainly greatly benefited from your advice, comments and knowledge. Thank you so much Prof. Dr. Karen for your support (the non-academic as well), tolerance, encouragement and above all pushing me to finish this PhD. Thanks for going the extra mile to ensure my stays in Ghent are comfortable in all ways, orienting me into Belgium life, for caring to know how my family is doing, … the list is endless. Without this kind of motivation, the PhD would still look farfetched to me. Special thanks also to Dr. Lieselotte Viaene, a member of my PhD Committee, for all the tips during the research process. I am equally indebted to the members of the Examination Board; Prof. Dr. Anna Kern, Prof. Dr. Ronald Atkinson, Prof. Dr. Kristof Titeca, Dr. David Mwambari, Dr. Vicky Van Bockhaeven for accepting to include me in their often busy schedules to read and comment on my Dissertation. I am very thankful for the extensive comments and suggestions for revisions I received from each of you. These were incredibly useful and have pushed me to rework the dissertation to increase its academic value. Many people in northern Uganda, specifically, Gulu district, a place that has become another home for me, welcomed me and offered me an opportunity to learn, and I do not take this for granted. My gratitude goes to all my respondents, all the rwodi, members of Ker Kwaro Acholi, who went out of their way to answer my questions. I especially want to acknowledge Emmanuel, Jacob, Mr. Ambrose Olaa from Ker Kwaro Acholi, and rwodi; Adek, Acaye, Latim and Apire for unconditionally opening the doors to me. I am most indebted to friends who assisted me in the field; Tony, Emmanuel, Hope and Joyce for organising meetings, translating for me, explaining things I did not understand and continuously willingly responding to my 'what does this mean/ do you know…' questions (and texts afterwards). Thanks Francis, Isaac, Bernard Bongomin, Bernard Loum, Julian Hopwood, Jimy Otto, Fr. Ramon and everyone in Gulu who contributed to the realisation of this research in one way or another. I appreciate colleagues at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies for being part of my PhD trajectory. And for listening to and constructively giving insightful feedback on my work.