Letter from Gulu

By Nobert Mao

A few weeks ago the Peace Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP) implementation mechanism was launched at Hotel Africana in Kampala. But there was a side event. That is what happened on that day at Africana. A few local government leaders plus some Resident District Commissioners decided that something has to be done about the state of education in northern Uganda.

There is no need to flog the point that our great schools lie in ruins. It is in that frame of mind that the leaders of local governments gathered after lunch to ask the question â€“ what is to be done? We invited The Pincer Group, a Ugandan consultancy that has been working with the Ministry of Education and USAID to support schools in conflict areas (13 districts to be specific) to come and play the role of midwife.

Since we were working under the framework of the PRDP â€“ a government of Uganda programme (to be honest a brainchild of President Museveni), we had to expand our vision beyond the 13 districts that the USAID programme on education covers.

It does not matter whether you are not geographically in the north or whether you are not really Nilotic (as most typical people from the north of Uganda are), if your indicators show that you are as badly off due to the long war then for purposes of the collaboration, you were in the north.

The PRDP has thus redefined the north and we agreed to go along with the contours delineated by the government plan. We thus made a momentous decision as local government leaders from northern Uganda would make equity and quality in education their legacy.

Without quality education the north will continue to lag behind. We resolved that in May 2008 we would meet and take a stand for the future of education in northern Uganda. We would make a declaration about the gaps that need to be closed. We will recognise that unless the divide in education is dealt with the very unity of Uganda is at stake.

Just like Abraham Lincoln once declared to his fellow Americans that â€œthis nation cannot exist half slave and half free â€ we the leaders of the north must also find the courage to say â€œUganda cannot exist half educated and half uneducatedâ€!
Indeed this translates into saying Uganda cannot exist half- backward and half-prosperous, half in conflict and half in peaceâ€¦ Our decision has yielded practical results.

Three of us â€“ Arua chairman who is also the vice president of the Uganda Local Government Association (ULGA) Richard Andama Ferua, Manafwa chairman Ambassador Charles Walimbwa who is also ULGA Regional Chairman for Eastern Uganda, and myself in my capacity as ULGA Chairman for Northern Uganda were tasked to convene the first ever Northern Uganda Forum on Education.

Working with USAID and the Uganda government we hope to come up with a blueprint to scale up education in our war- torn region. This blue print will be unpacked into clear education sector strategies, which will be implemented within the framework of the PRDP.

I have briefed the Prime Minister and other key government officials about this plan and they have endorsed it fully. That is why on a cold windy morning of Saturday, March 15, 2008 I was at Lapainat Primary School together with hundreds of displaced people to receive Mrs. Henrietta Fore, USAID Administrator and Director of Foreign Assistance.

This school is part of the USAID programme and is one of the only two schools from which the two girls who got first grades in rural Gulu emerged. Last year only one girl got a first grade in rural Gulu. This prompted me to declare that if the performance did not improve I would resign as chairman of Gulu. The two girls thus saved my job.

Statistically, the performance improved, but it is still not acceptable. Mrs. Fore had instant rapport with the local people. In describing her job, she caused laughter â€“ and understanding â€“ when she said (referring to my own job), that she is the chairman of USAID in Washington! She is not a career diplomat but she certainly knows how to connect with people. No wonder she is the first-ever female Administrator of the USAID.

She is already in the history books for that but her passion for northern Uganda will entrench her legacy and the legacy of the Bush Administration as a government that was not only touched by the suffering of northern Uganda but one that was moved to act decisively to help end the war (forget Iraq) and heal the victims.

As I rode in her car to the airport, she declared her support for our plan for education. She also supported our plan to build a Northern Uganda Girls Academy. As her plane took off I recalled a story related to us at the Africana meeting by George Piwang (one of the associates at Pincer). A shipwrecked man having resigned to a life in a deserted island had built himself a house.

One day he came back to find an unexplained fire raging in his house razing it to the ground. He cursed and fretted as he wailed. He threw himself on the ground in desperation. Then he heard a voice. When he looked up he saw some sailors.

The Captain introduced himself and said, â€œWe saw your smoke signal!â€ Tragedy turned into salvation. So be it with northern Uganda. We can only say to USAID and the Bush administration, thank you for seeing our â€œsmoke signal!â€

The writer is chairman of Gulu district

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