Government has been urged to fast track the implementation of the transition justice policy to address the needs of post conflict in Uganda.
The transitional justice policy framework was designed to address justice, accountability and reconciliation needs of post-conflict Uganda.
The passing of the policy in 2019 partly fulfilled government’s commitments on accountability and reconciliation that it made during the Juba Peace process, which started in 2006, as well as its constitutional obligations.
Speaking during a public dialogue on transition justice processes held in Kampala on Wednesday, Ambrose Olaa, the Prime Minister of Ker Kwaro Acholi said whereas government performed well in resettling and development of Northern Uganda after being ravaged by the Kony war, they feel some issues are yet to be addressed.
“The war for over 20 years had a grinding effect on the people of Northern Uganda. Not only physical aspects of life but also psychological and spiritual lives of people. It deepened the element of suffering of the people,” Olaa noted.
“These recovery programs have dealt with physical elements but left out psychological part. Issues around mental health, psychological conditions of people, social reconfiguration of society, mindset reorganisation are all software issues left out during recovery process. Everything done as post- conflict recovery was geared towards development and not recovery in terms of healing and reconciliation in our society. We think the transitional justice policy can help solve these issues.”
Enock Muhindo, from Rwenzururu kingdom couldn’t agree more about the assertion by the Prime Minister of Ker Kwaro Acholi .
He said whereas the Rwenzori region has suffered conflicts since 1919, there have not been many efforts to ensure proper justice is achieved.
Since 1919, there have been recurring conflicts in the region. On all occasions people felt oppressed. In these conflicts, some of our leaders were arrested and other killed but there have not been proper efforts to ensure justice.”
He noted that the transitional justice policy would be a great tool in rectifying some of these issues.
Ramzy Magambo, the team leader at Saferworld Uganda said that they are working with government, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to ensure people who have been affected by conflicts get total justice.
“We operate in 14 districts in Uganda and we work with different stakeholders to address the strands of conflicts.We work in an actor led approach with communities and authorities. Our role is to support coordinated platforms of different actors to respond to some of these issues,”Magambo said.
He said that the dialogue would help draw action points but also set timelines on implementing the key issues.
Magambo however noted that Saferworld Uganda is looking at how the different processes of integration of people into different communities and how justice processes are being taken up.
“The challenge is how the coverage is inclusive geographically and in terms of gender. When you talk of compensation of some of the victims, are women and youth. We are looking at whether they are considered during this exercise.”
He noted that there is also a need to make people aware of these initiatives to ensure everyone enjoys them.
Uganda Human Rights Commission’s Crispin Kaheru underscored the role of transitional justice.
“Transitional Justice helps us to the relatives of the victims to understand more on why the perpetrator did the act like why he or she killed somebody and thus answering a number of questions in people’s minds. It is not the case in the formal justice mechanisms where a person is convicted and punished without opening up,” Kaheru said in a speech read for him by Ruth Ssekindi, the director for complaints, investigations and legal services at UHRC.
About the policy
The transition justice policy addresses the legal and institutional framework for investigations, prosecutions, trials within the formal system, reparations and alternative justice approaches.
These matters are clustered into five key areas including formal justice, traditional justice, nation building and reconciliation, amnesty and reparations and the ultimate goal of the policy is to pave the way for the achievement of peace, stability and social cohesion in Uganda.
The multi-stakeholder national level dialogue in Kampala was part of the “Addressing Drivers of Conflict in Uganda’ programme by Saferworld in partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO) was aimed at providing a platform for stronger coordination and collaborative engagement among stakeholders for the implementation of the National Transitional Justice Policy.
The forum was also be used as a platform to launch a dissemination and popularisation campaign for the policy, and to jointly develop actionable recommendations to fast track the policy’s collective implementation.
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