UGANDA: IS OPERATION HARMONY YET ANOTHER POLITICAL GIMMICK TO HOODWINK THE ACHOLI?

Hon. Martin Ojara Mapenduzi (holding yellow shirt), Hon. Akol Anthony (left) and Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Anita Annet Among (handing over the NRM party shirt) welcomes the duo to the ruling NRM party in Gulu City, February 17, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Luo Tunes).

Opinion Piece by Okumu Livingstone Langol 

Operation Harmony, dubbed a non-ruling party members initiative to lift socio-economic status of the Acholi sub-region was launched at Bomah Hotel in Gulu, April 17, 2025 in a ceremony that was intended to gain Acholi elders’ supports.

Skeptics, however, look at it as a drive by sold-out opposition members to the ruling NRM government to regain acceptance by the public that became hostile to them on realizing that they had long abandoned their party and clearly in bed with a corruption-riddled ruling party.

This, in the context the historical NRM members also viewed the opposition members as opportunists who wanted to unseat them from their political positions and mere self-seekers with no clear agenda to lift their people out of their precarious socio-economic status.

Even the clergy in the Acholi sub-region, using their pulpit, warned their congregation to be careful of the self-seekers, with one of them branding them with a powerful Luo phrase “Acam Ngwinya” literally meaning self-centered or self-regarding, in short egocentric individuals to the extent of being inconsiderate.

To bring you to speed about the context, on March 13, 2025, a group comprising mainly opposition members of parliament comprising including P. P. Okin, Anthony Akol, Peter Okot, Lucy Akello, Aol Betty Ocan, Okot Santa, Ojara Martin Mapenduzi went to meet President Yoweri Museveni at the State House in the guise of lobbying him to be affirmative about their region that is lagging behind in socio-economic development.

However, skeptics now say the real reason the MPs approached the patronizing head of state was actually about funds to bankroll the approaching 2026 parliamentary elections that is barely 10 months away.

Ugandan politics is monetized to the extent if you do not have the funds to bribe the electorate, chances are you will lose and the ‘human automatic teller machines (ATMs)’ are none other the patronizing head of state, his brother Salim Saleh heading a shady organization named “Operation Wealth Creation” and his son, recently appointed the Chief of Defense Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Keinerugaba, heading yet another shadowy organization called Patriotic League Uganda.

Without patronage from the trio and to an extent from the powerful Minister of Education and Sports, Janeth Kataha Museveni, the president’s spouse, you become sort of a political loser, but with them on your side, success is almost guaranteed. The only unique region in this case is the rich Buganda that predominantly subscribe to the National Unity Platform Party under the stewardship of a young charismatic musician-turned politician, Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, where they can still play on the tribal cards and win the electorate.

On the face of it, “Operation Harmony” that is now being presented to the Acholi leaders and elders looks quite a good albeit sketchy document. It gives a background of the socio-economic backwardness of the Acholi Sub-region, the region’s historical struggles and challenges, its rather youth-heavy demographic profile and its opportunities.

Ironically, the document depicts Acholi as a region that has proportionately benefitted so much from the ruling government as compared to other regions yet still wallowing in poverty. Ironically also, the document does not mention the over 2-decade war that the Acholi Sub-region suffered, the killings and incarceration of its surviving people into camps with dire humanitarian crisis, total breakdown of the social fabric and alienation from land as a major factor of production.

More still, the document does not care much about the lack of transitional justice for a region and its people pulled behind by war. “Operation Harmony” gives the impression there should be no alternative voices, no checks and balances to the ruling NRM government; that the only way out is to seek patronage from the ruling party or forever get doomed, and that amounts to nothing other than propping a corrupt, intolerant regime that does not subscribe to the principles of democracy to rule forever.

Other skeptics think that Operation Harmony is the brain child of the President’s brother, Gen. Salim Saleh, designed to dismantle independent Acholi-led movement, particularly Roco Paco, a growing grassroots initiative led by Ambassador Dr. Olara Otunnu and His Lordship, Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo Chigamoi. The skeptics state that unlike Operation Harmony, Rocco Paco is genuinely rooted in the concerns and aspirations of ordinary Acholi people.

At the forefront of advocacy for Operation Harmony are two familiar figures: Hon. Ojara Martin Mapenduzi currently Bardege-Layibi legislator and Hon. Anthony Akol, currently Kilak North legislator. The duo has since crossed from the opposition to the ruling NRM party and are said to be already getting some perks from Gen. Salim Saleh and wary of anybody competing against them under that party ticket to win back their constituencies. Their names have become synonymous with political maneuvering and opportunism.

Once trusted by some in our community, these two now act as conduits for a state-backed agenda aimed at pacifying and politically neutralizing Acholi voices and hijacking the otherwise well-thought-out developmental agenda, the socio-cultural survival called Rocco Paco initiative.

Operation Harmony document is void of the most pressing issues facing the Acholi. There is no mention of the debilitating ailment called Nodding Syndrome that continues to kill our children or renders them invalids. There is no plan to address the ongoing Balaalo invasion that threatens the cultural heritage and land; and no recognition of the rampant land grabbing perpetrated by politically connected individuals.

“In a region still healing from decades of conflict, this silence is a betrayal,” says an elder Otim Opobo.

The duo was at the forefront of presenting the Operation Harmony document on behalf of the Acholi community at State House on March 13, 2025 without consulting the very people they claimed to represent. The reactions to the State House visit were swift and scathing: Acholi rejected this self-imposed representation.

In response, Gen. Saleh allegedly funneled billions of shillings into the region to orchestrate a series of staged “consultations.” The aim? To fabricate legitimacy and paint Operation Harmony as a community-owned project.

At the first meeting, held in Kacoke Madit Hotel, reports emerged that participants were paid at least UGX 500,000 each—more of a bribe than a consultation allowance.

Odonga Otto, a once revered voice against corruption who attended the “consultation” is said to have softened his stance and appears lukewarm towards Operation Harmony. What caused this sudden transformation? Many are asking questions and rightly so.

Cultural, religious, and community leaders are being courted, pressured, and in some cases subtly bought off to endorse Operation Harmony. The result is a manufactured consensus that does not reflect the will of the people.

Today, Akol and Mapenduzi openly embrace their roles as regime apologists. Their main concern appears to be safeguarding their political careers, even if it means selling out the future of Acholi.

They have even boasted about “bringing down the elephant” a deeply symbolic act of betrayal, given the elephant’s revered status in Acholi tradition as a symbol of wisdom, strength, and endurance. This forces us to confront an uncomfortable question: Are these men truly sons of this soil?

Operation Harmony is not about harmony at all. It is about control, distraction, and weakening the political resolve of the Acholi people. By replacing authentic grassroots voices with that of handpicked proxies, the state is attempting to rewrite the narrative of our struggle and decide for us our destiny, our future.

But let us be clear: the Acholi spirit is unbreakable. We are resilient, have weathered greater storms. We have endured displacement, war, and marginalization and we have always found our way forward through unity, truth, and dignity.

Now, more than ever, we must rally around the values that define us. We must protect our land, speak truth to power, and resist any attempt to undermine our voice. No amount of money or manipulation can erase our identity or derail our aspirations.