Moroto, Uganda: Traders from Uganda and Kenya have started questioning the significance of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Museveni in Karamoja.
In 2019, the two heads of state visited Moroto and signed the MOU on cross-border trade, development, and free movement. The signed memorandum included details such as joint intelligence sharing and deployment, resource sharing, and joint grazing for both Turkana and Karimojong pastoralists in Moroto. However, this has not been implemented due to the reluctance of armed Turkana pastoralists crossing into Karamoja with firearms.
Although General Salem Sale, accompanied by Minister for Security Retired Major General Jimmy Muhonzi, met with the Kenyan delegation to review the MOU in Moroto in March of last year, the impact of the MOU has not been felt by the two neighboring communities that are currently in conflict.
Ugandans operating businesses in Turkana are currently worried about the disturbances they face when entering Turkana. Some of these disturbances include paying heavy taxes on Uganda-registered number plates, among other issues.
While Turkana county officials said it was the Turkana government that evacuated the injured pastoralists to Lodwar for treatment, a chicken trader named Peter Lokeris expressed concern that their business might be interrupted if Turkana authorities continue overtaxing them.
“We expected total peace, free movement, and trade after the signing of that Memorandum of Understanding between the two presidents, but now things seem to not be working,” he said.
John Lokol, a cross-border peace activist, however, stated that as long as the Kenyan government remains silent on disarming the Turkana and Pokots, there will be no peace in Karamoja.
“That MOU was just for eating EU-funded cash, but nothing has changed. We expected everything to go well, but now things are different,” he said.
Titus Ekeno, a trader operating the Turkana-Moroto route, said the two governments need to come out clearly on the signed MOU.
“What I know is that this signed MOU is in the drawers of Kampala and Nairobi but not for the benefit of the two communities,” he said.
