By JOACHIM BUWEMBO

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On March 21 three geologists plus two military guards were shot dead by so-called cattle rustlers in Moroto district of Uganda’s northeastern region of Karamoja, where they had gone to pick some rock samples. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces vowed to teach the Karamajong rustlers a lesson.

But some Karamojong leaders cynically and publicly scoffed back saying the government is taking the matter seriously because the victims this time were from other tribes, not Karamojong. For the rustlers have killed hundreds of Karimojong human beings.

At the public security meetings that have become rather frequent in Karamoja these days, local leaders raise the issue of minerals with which their region is endowed, but which they claim don’t benefit the local owners of the land.

Did we say owners of the land? That is another matter itching the Karamojong, who claim that people from other tribes of Uganda are grabbing their land, by getting title deeds for it.

Last year, I had a long chat with a government minister from Karamoja, who has since, unfortunately, passed on. He was also an ordained priest of the Catholic Church.

On the matter of land, he told me, a bit vehemently for a man of the cloth, that they as Karamojong do not recognise “those papers” over their land, which is communally owned.

Anyway, each country has its tribal peculiarities, if what is happening in the highly “scientific” Russia-Ukraine society, and the disproportionate fatal shootings of USA’s black tribe by police (who should have non-lethal bullets) tell us anything.

What Uganda’s Karamojong and the other 50-something tribes should do is to detribalise the minerals because they represent a possible break that can help the country get out of poverty faster than the five-yearly development plans would.

Already, with the oil prices going up faster than expected, thanks to the Ukraine crisis, the tribe in whose ancestral land Uganda’s petroleum is found have been claiming “their” share of the proceeds of the natural resource.

While the Karamojong have no capacity to exploit the diverse minerals in their land, the other tribes that have geologists and engineers and know the international markets need to ensure that the locals benefit from the God-given wealth.

But, even much better, amid all the disruption of the Ukrainian war, Africans need to assess their mineral assets and plan how to move forward as competitors to the industrialised regions of the world.

When you hear the bickering of words and see the paralysis of action in the East African Community, it is tempting to think like my ancestors that there is a powerful witchdoctor on our case.

Why, for instance, with the admission of DR Congo to the EAC, should the pathetically broke Arusha outfit be wondering where to get the money to expand its administrative infrastructure to integrate the new entrant?

We are here talking of an entrant who has enough strategic minerals to power the planet for the next 100 years or so. And we are wondering how to find money to integrate her when some members have not paid their dues as if they are conscripts in the Community.

Are members who buy weapons to kill citizens serious when they claim they have no money to pay their subscription fees?

Joachim Buwembo is a Kampala-based journalist. E-mail: [email protected]