Sovereignty Bill will suffocate Karamoja - CSOs

Residents of Kotido District wait at the bus park for transport to flee to the neighboring districts. Photos/Herbert Kamoga

A section of Civil Society Organizations operating in Karamoja sub-region have rejected the Protection of Sovereignty Bill, saying when passed, will suffocate development in Karamoja.

In a joint statement issued this morning, the civil society organisation fraternity in Karamoja said that roughly USD 70 to 90 million in donor funding — which translates to hundreds of billions of Ugandan shillings to critical sectors of education, natural resources, food security, health and peace building — will be lost.

The CSOs in Karamoja argue that the Bill, when passed, will not spare the Karamoja Regional Development Plan (KRDP) 2025 to 2035.

As per the paperwork of KRDP, donors are projected to make a 20 per cent contribution to its implementation, private sector 24 per cent and government 55 per cent.

"The proposed Sovereignty Bill may jeopardize this kind of donor and private sector support for vulnerable regions in Uganda such as Karamoja as it puts a cap of funding amounting to Shs400 million," they stated in their Karamoja position paper.

They added that Karamoja is unique and relies on cross-border interactions with neighbouring communities of Kenya and South Sudan.

The cross-border livestock trade contributes millions of dollars annually and in 2018, about USD 1 million was recorded between Kenya and Uganda alone.

They state that in places like Amudat District alone about 70 percent of livestock sold goes to Kenya. This kind of trade makes a significant contribution to diaspora remittances for household survival and small businesses.

Karamoja CSOs fear that the Protection of Sovereignty Bill risks misclassifying survival systems as external threats.