Summary of Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda
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7/31/2019 Summary of Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda
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Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice
Tradition in Transition:Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 2
Khristopher Carlson, Keith Proctor, Elizabeth Stites, and Darlington Akabwai
Summary of
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IN KARAMOJA, customary law is more than a
legalistic code governing right rom wrong.
Rather, it is the normative ramework that
regulates the judicial, political, social, and
religious processes o the groups that live within
the region. Coordinated by elder males within
each community, customary law historically
provided a vital means or maintaining social
cohesion, adjudicating crime, urnishing a
ramework or mediating inter-group conict, and
coordinating resource sharing. This study ocused
on capturing the current status o customary
authority among our groups: the Jie and Dodoth
in northern Karamoja and the Tepeth and
Matheniko in southern Karamoja.
For a number o reasons, customary law has
sharply declined in inuence and eectiveness in
recent decades among the our groups. First, both
the loss o livestock due to increased raiding and a
shit away rom pastoral livelihoods have
undamentally transormed customary institutions.
Customary law hinged on livestock, which
provided both the means or compensation and
the resource necessary or the most important
social rituals (e.g., initiation, marriage, death).
Second, changing worldviews among the people
o Karamoja due to increased trade, education,
and migration are challenging the old cultural
monopoly o traditional approaches. Third,
authority in Karamoja is rooted in processes o
generational succession. Those processes have
broken down in many places in recent year and
initiations or young men have largely ceased
(although this is start ing to change in some areas).
This has resulted in a rit between elders and those
younger men impatient or greater social roles in
their communities. Fourth, the rise o crime
part icularly those crimes perpetrated by
This is the summary o a longer report which can be ound on the Feinstein International Center
website at c.tuts.edu. The authors thank Irish Aid Kampala or supporting this work, with particularrecognition to Pronch Murray, Wendy Kasujja and Fearghal MacCarthaigh. Fieldwork was assisted by
Irene Emanikor, Joyce Ilukori, Luke Lonyiko, Joshua Kidon, Michael Kapolon and Samson Lorika.
All photographs are by Khristopher Carlson.
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Summary Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda 3
impoverished younger males has impaired the
authority o customary institutions and aggravated
the problems o livestock shortages. Fith, as elders
have lost control over their communities, their
ability to negotiate with other groups has also
declined, undermining the ability o customary
institutions to guarantee the regional peace.
Lastly, ormal state institutions are increasingly
providing another nexus o power in Karamoja
which otentimes contradicts the authority o the
elders.
Nevertheless, throughout Karamoja customary
institutions continue to provide a number o
important services to their communities and the
region. In many places this study ound that elders
provide the best means or adjudicating crimes and
resolving disputes. This is particularly true where
state institutions, such as the courts or police, lack
resources or are not seen as trustworthy.
Customary law is a community aair, and
thereore in many places is believed to be aster
and more transparent in process than the ormal
system. Furthermore, customary law is oten a
preerable avenue or victims because it is rooted
in processes o compensation; in contrast, ormal
institutions typically provide no guarantee o
compensation. Lastly, in a manner dist inct rom
ormal penal processes, the goal o customary law
is the maintenance o social cohesion, and
traditional inst itutions are ocused on resolving
disputes in a way that heal communal relationships
rayed by crimes.
One o the goals o this study was to track the
perceptions o customary law, and its present
eectiveness or ineectiveness, across demographic
classes among the our groups. A great deal o
variation was apparent between and even within
communities, but a number o general trends were
also apparent. Among community elders, there is a
reluctance to believe that customary institutions
themselves are weak or i ll-suited to the t imes.
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Feinstein International Center, Tufts University4
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Summary Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda 5
Rather, many believe that the waning power o
customary law is only temporary, and will be
restored once herds are replenished. Women were
generally among the most vocal critics o
customary law. In particular, they were critical o
the inability o elders to provide protection, and
also complained o the gender biases inherent in
customary law processes. Among the male youth,
responses varied by community, but in general
they said that elders have been slow to adapt to the
times, as evident in evolving livelihoods and the
ailure to initiate the next generation set.
In order to provide an examination o the overlapbetween customary and ormal institutions, as well
as to record ormal actors perceptions o the status
and eectiveness o customary authority, the study
also ocused on customary laws interaction with
ormal actors in Karamoja. In general, ormal
actors recognize the decline o elder power in
Karamoja, while also appreciating their enduring
local relevance on some issues, particularly dispute
resolution. While some actors, including security
orces and appointed district ofcials, were
contemptuous o customary institutions, others
such as magistrates recognized that the states
presence on the ground was not nearly robust
enough to replace traditional practices. Indeed,
many ormal actors recognize that the elders
remain central to peace in Karamoja. The worst
interaction between customary institutions and
their ormal counterparts was evident in the case
of the UPDF, whose members were at times
brazenly disdainul and actively insulting o
traditional practices.
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Feinstein International Center, Tufts University6
Based on this study, we provide a set o
conclusions and recommendations. In general,
customary inst itutions provide a critical set o
practices which, i strengthened, can improve
peace-building in Karamoja. However, addressing
the weaknesses o the elders will not be easy.Simply replenishing lost herds will not address the
violence and criminal ity that diminished both
livestock and the authority o the elders.
Nonetheless, a number o approaches can be
taken. First, economic development in Karamoja
must be community-based and locally-led, and
should be conducted with an eye toward
increasing the relevance o customary authority.
Second, to strengthen the role o the elders in
mediating group conict and resource sharing, thegovernment should limit its role in land use
management to policies that support and bolster
the important and appropriate livestock sector. In
general, government attempts to control animal
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populations and grazing practices have been
destructive, both rom a livelihoods perspective
and in terms o undermining local authority.
Third, while expanding education in Karamoja is
critical to developing the region and providing
alternative livelihoods opportunities, educationcurricula should not disparage pastoralism or
traditional culture. An educated generation will
include natural leaders o their communities, and
these individuals will be well-positioned to both
sustain customary institutions as well as prompt
the evolution o these systems in response to new
needs. Fourth, legal aid should oster greater
cooperation between the customary and ormal
sectors. This wil l require the education o both
sides. Formal actors should learn to respect and, inappropriate cases, incorporate traditional practices;
customary actors must assimilate and be respectul
o the ormal legal system. Fith, gender-sensitive
programs should ocus on closing the gap between
men and women in traditional ora. To avoid
resistance rom male dominated communities, and
to preserve the saety o women, working on
gender issues should be done indirectly, through
the cultivation o womens peace-building
activities, womens livelihoods programs, and
educational programs or male youth and male
elders. Sixth, civil society programming should
ocus on basic rights education, building civic
partnerships between civilians and government
ofcials, and increasing the unctionality o ormal
justice systems. While this report recommendsthat customary institutions be shored up, it also
suggests that development actors cultivate new
community institutions with the capacity to
contribute to peace-building and development.
These might include womens and youth groups,
which have sprung up in many communities to
address the breakdown o traditional authority and
regional insecurity. Lastly, the provision o
security or communities in Karamoja is one o
the basic conditions necessary to reinvigoratingcustomary institutions. Unfortunately, at present,
ormal security institutions do not yet have the
capacity to ully meet the security needs o
communities. To address this need, the role o the
UPDF in providing community policing should
be gradually diminished, the civil police orce
should be expanded, and where possible young
men and women rom Karamoja should be
recruited to ll the police ranks.
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Feinstein International Center
Tufts University
114 Curtis Street
Somerville, MA 02144
USA
tel: +1 617.627.3423
ax: +1 617.627.3428
c.tuts.edu
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