Humanist

We are in the month of Osokosokoma, the month of high grass (ema) and the time to cut thatching grass for renovating houses, granaries, etc. Osokosokoma is the name, in Ateso, the language of the Iteso, that our ancestors gave to the month of October. Iteso are currently the fifth largest first nation of Uganda, and we lay ownership claim of a significant portion of North-Eastern Uganda, Teso Region, as our land.

Travelling through Teso today, in October, however, one would be lucky to see ema or long grass of any kind. Land our ancestors used to let fallow for the purpose of allowing ema to grow and as well as for grazing and regeneration is no more. Such lands have since been miscategorized as ‘idle’ and ‘underutilized.’

Combined with the massive loss of our cattle stolen during the 1985 to 1989 insurgency and therefore our Teso cattle economy, it hastened change of land use in Teso. Land that was designated commons – consisting of land let fallow, reserved for forests for foraging for firewood, food, etc. and grasslands for grazing hardly exists in Teso today.

It is such lands, that presumably have been parcelled out and awarded to ‘investors’ to ‘better utilize’ for large scale agriculture and other ‘developmental’ or ‘modern projects.’ In some instances, Iteso have been covertly disposed of their land. As in they are living on it, but it is under ‘contract farming’ of a ‘modern crop’; effectively under the control of a third party.

Case in point, how farmers in Teso were encouraged to grow oranges to supply to the Soroit Fruit Factory. Farmers did so, but apparently the factory does not buy their oranges. Similarly, Epurpuri Sorghum saga in which Nile Breweries and East African Breweries left farmers in Teso stranded with sorghum harvest. Sorghum, moreover, that they couldn’t eat as food, because it was specially made for brewing beer.

The opportunity cost of covert land dispossession is devastating. It exacerbates and sustains food poverty in Teso – 54 percent of households in Teso are food poor. Farmers don’t grow own food in the hope of getting cash incomes from the sale of their ‘modern crop’ harvests; which cash they would use to buy food and to cover the cost of their other necessities.

And so, when the third parties who contracted farmers to grow ‘modern crops’ don’t buy the harvest, farmers make losses double-double. Constructive dispossession of Ugandan people of their lands on account that it is ‘idle’ and ‘underutilized’ is not unique only to Teso. It is happening in other parts of Uganda as well. Such as, for example, in Acholi where government is accused of aiding land grab.

Our changing lifestyles, influenced by Eurocentric definitions of ‘development’ and ‘modernity’, have ensured the ethonocide of the ways of Iteso. From cursory observation, increasingly houses in Teso today are tin-roofed as opposed to grass thatched. This does not necessarily mean the tin-roofed ones are better than the grass thatched ones.

Since, the source of traditional Iteso roofing material, grass, is diminished and destroyed, tin-roofed houses have become the viable option. However, clearly, the push to change lifestyles of Iteso to mimic Eurocentric definitions of ‘development’ and ‘modernity’, is contributing to reinforce the vicious cycle of the negative effects of climate change.

That there is no ema in October in Teso is an indicator of climate change, as well as of the negative effects of climate change; and sadly, of the ethnocide of Iteso culture.