We suffer because of not listening- Archbishop Odama

Archbishop John Baptist Odama was at the fore front of efforts to end the Northern Uganda conflict peacefully. Pearl News Service’s Valerian Kkonde sought his views about the Juba talks and the continued search for peace, a commodity that continues to elude the country the same way good leadership has done.

PNS: What do the talks going on between Uganda government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) signify to you?

ODAMA: You know this is what I call the cream of human life. It is the best thing they have done. The example they are setting for the future generation will safeguard and promote humanity. It will promote harmony among the people here in this country Uganda and also other parts of the world. Because they are teaching the children now and the grandchildren to come that when there is any conflict, where you have violence, you should not continue and solve it in a violent way. You must come and solve it through peaceful means, through dialogue, through talking, through understanding and appreciating what exactly caused this war. You should go to the root and eliminate the causes of it. Then they can move forward. This is very important.

PNS: How do you feel that after two decades of calling for a negotiated settlement, government has finally seen sense in talking?

ODAMA: First of all I want to thank the government of Uganda and the LRA for accepting to talk. Two, it is not so much about me really. It is the people, the population who have been demanding this. I was only their voice just as were other leaders. The people have always been demanding that they want to live in peace. They were all along telling the warring sides that if there was anything, talk. If there is no deal, then forgive one another. So the greatest credit goes to the population who are now beginning to feel that they are peaceful and can go about their work, digging, sowing and even travel not worrying much about war. This is very good and they feel very happy about it.

PNS: You have been in this struggle for a long time. What is it like, in Uganda today, to come out and say no, we want peace and justice?

ODAMA: I talk from a point of view of being a believer. In reality, the issue of having a life of peace, of harmony, of justice, is a demand from God. At the end of creating everything, God said that it was good. At the end of the creation of the human being, God said very good. So the state of living in harmony is what God demands from us: I appreciate you, you appreciate me. You accept me, I accept you. You respect me, I respect you and love each other and promote the good of each other. This is what God wants from us. And this is what I meant when I stood up to speak on the demand of God who put me as a leader of the population in the Northern part of Uganda, particularly Gulu Archdiocese which comprises of  Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader districts. I am the leader of these people. The situation of war was not correct. God had to give me the courage to stand up and speak clearly for the voiceless. I could not fear because I knew this was a mission God gave me. It is the mission God gave to all religious leaders and other leaders. For all leaders, their mission is to unite people and enable them live in harmony with one another. You cannot lead a divided nation. It is even difficult to lead a divided family. So we had to speak courageously because the project of peace and justice is of God.

 PNS: What has been your greatest challenge?

ODAMA: The lack of listening to one another. People do not want to listen to one another easily. The lack of openness and readiness to talk to one another, over issues. People want to solve problems by fighting, not by separating and running away from one another. And they are not ready to say: yes, here I do not understand you. Can we sit down and say this is not good? This was the biggest challenge. This led to the prolonging of the war in the North this far.

PNS: So, failure to listen was the reason why the war went on for this long?

ODAMA: Yes. Although there were other reasons which I had the chance to listen to when they came to the roundtable and started talking. If they had done that earlier, many lives and infrastructure would have been spared. We are now suffering, I tell you this frankly, as a consequence of not listening.

PNS: In 1994 Betty Bigombe almost brought the rebels out of the rebellion save for government’s scuttling of the peace talks at the last hour. Are you convinced that government is genuine about peace talks?

ODAMA: From their speech in Juba they had this to say: The stage at which we have reached is of no return. It means we do not want to go back to war. The government should encourage LRA to move forward. They should be encouraged to overcome the wrangles they have among themselves so that the peace process goes ahead. Similarly, the coming here of the LRA was very good. It was a morale booster for government to tell the rest of the world that they are committed to the negotiated settlement of the war.

PNS: Wasn’t the killing of Vincent Otti a setback?

ODAMA: It should not be a setback. The main reason of having the peace talks is because we are not happy with what they have done. They should go over it quickly and move forward for peace because people desire peace; it is not only us.

PNS: While peace talks are going on, there is land-grabbing and persecution of the opposition in other parts of the country by state agents. How do you relate that to the search for peace in Juba?

ODAMA: These are realities we should try by all means to avoid. Parliament should be tough on this: to advise government and the security agencies against land grabbing and the torture of the opposition. Parliament should be firm because they are there to be the voice of the people when they are oppressed. Those grabbing the land are depriving the poor people. They need to realize that what they are doing is bad and that they are doing it against themselves. They are casting a bad image of themselves. Opposition is good provided it is constructive.; it is good for the nation, for the opposition itself and  government. Physical fighting is useless and government must listen to the people.

PNS: As the search for peace and justice goes on in Uganda, what is your appeal to government?

ODAMA: We must have a nation that has a principle of acting according to justice and promotion of peace. This is what a nation must aim at. In justice there are so many principles of protecting human rights: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, The Africa Charter… and others. All those have the observation of justice as their mission. When you observe justice you promote peace. We need Uganda to be a peaceful, just country where citizens practice justice among themselves. I have always said this to the 65 tribes of Uganda: we are one people. Our flag is one with black, yellow, red, and a white strip with a crane in the middle and the repetition of black, yellow and red. We all fit in the black; it is the people of Uganda. They are supposed to live as one nation in the brotherhood, the red. The white in the middle is to live in peace. The crane in motion means we are a royal people. Most of the tribes have kings. The crane in motion further means we want progress and prosperity. In reality we must promote peace. All leaders: be it religious or traditional must work for peace. But the people in government should be the first to ensure that we move in the right way.

PNS: And to all Ugandans?

ODAMA: Let us love one another, promote the good of each other and live in harmony and peace.