A reply to Marcus Manzi on pastoralists

SIR— I respond to Mr Marcus Manzi’s letter of Saturday, July 20, “Are there more foreigners in Teso?” Like many others who have missed the Iteso side of view, Manzi thinks that Iteso are expressing hatred for the pastoralists. Manzi says Iteso have “colonised” Wakiso, Mukono, Jinja, Iganga, Masaka, etc.This is absurd. Iteso went to those areas on peaceful terms. There was a willing seller who took their money in exchange for land. Iteso cannot in any way be compared with these immigrants who simply crossed to Teso wetlands by force and have no clear destination.Secondly, Iteso did not move in large groups like these nomads, neither did they seek and get military protection to settle in any part of this country. Yet they welcome anybody to Teso under a negotiated agreement but not by force and not in the wetlands. If it is true that these balalo once had land in Teso, why don’t they go back to their plots instead of threatening suicide in the swamps.We have Bakenye, Bagisu, Baganda and other tribes settled in Teso. How come we have never ‘chased’ them away?Teso has well over 60,000 internally displaced persons in Katakwi who are desperate for food and their land due to insecurity. Should we say they are free to settle anywhere in Uganda, or in the wetlands outside Katakwi?Manzi says “there are many ways of turning this migration into a good thing” but he does not suggest any.You cannot compare Henry Kissinger or Madeline Albright to these rootless nomads who do not know where the graves of their grandfathers are.I thank Cornelius Kodet for inviting these nomads to his Karamoja farm. Iteso hope this will settle their landless problem once and for all.Let Manzi and others who think like him organise relocation logistics instead of wrestling with the Iteso who are already down. About looted cattle, Teso forgot it long ago because it was a fair exchange for the peace they got. Agwel AkwapKumi County