Summary of Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda

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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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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tel: +1 617.627.3423

ax: +1 617.627.3428

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Summary of Tradition in Transition: Customary Authority in Karamoja, Uganda

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