They may have waltzed their way into the Oxford Dictionary but boda bodas are still considered by many to be one of the riskiest means of transport in Uganda owing to the numerous traffic related incidents involving them.

Recent media reports have quoted officials from Mulago National Referral Hospital as saying that of 60 casualty patients admitted at any given time, 80% are usually boda boda accident victims.

The patients’ long stay in the hospital eventually affects the quality of life they live given that some of the injuries sustained are grisly, leaving the victims incapacitated.

It is against the backdrop of these shocking statistics that building solutions firm, Hima Cement and the Uganda Traffic Police have initiated a partnership, aimed at sensitizing and equipping the riders with safety measures as well as basic first aid skills.

Speaking during the launch of the partnership at their depot in Namanve near Kampala, Daniel Petterson, the Hima Cement Country CEO reminded the boda boda riders that they have dependants and as such shouldn’t risk their lives for the sake of an extra penny.

“At the end of the day, this sensitization initiative is actually not about you the rider but about your children, spouses, brothers. Even the passengers you transport have families to go back to. How would they (families) survive if anything happened as you go about your errands?” he said.

Adding, “You (the riders) are the ones who can make a difference. Let’s work together to make a positive change and save lives. Hima Cement will find ways to work with you.”

Patrick Waswa, the Hima Cement Logistics Director explained that the need to sensitize the boda boda riders isbecause Hima Cement is one of the major road users owing to the number of cement ladenplying different routes in the country.

“We have between 80 to 120 trucks on the road daily and majority of the incidents we find on the roads involve motorcycles. Many of these incidents are because the riders try to force their way through narrow sections of the different highways. So we felt that we needed to educate boda bodas on how we can both maximize benefits from these roads,” he noted.

AIP Juma Maggwa, the second in-charge Traffic in Seeta while speaking to the riders cautioned them against consuming alcohol before riding and also urged them to get necessary documentation so as to avoid fines.

“Keep away from those alcohol sachets if you are planning to ride. These motorcycles are good but also deadly. Make sure to have a permit. Many times you are on the right but because you do not have permits, many of you try to flee the accident scenes,” he remarked.

Hima Cement donated several items to the boda boda communities of Seeta and Mukono that included reflector jackets, that will help other road users identify them clearly.

Survivors of the Lord’s Resistance Army’s massacre at Lukodi have said that feel they have been abandoned because little support has been provided to them.

On 19 May 2017, the massacre’s 13th anniversary, memorial prayers were organised to commemorate the events where over 60 people were killed and several others abducted. The massacre is alleged to have been led by Dominic Ongwen’s Sinia brigade and forms part of the 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at his ongoing trial at the ICC.

Strong leadership

Comparing Lukodi to other places like Barlonyo and Abia, Betty Piloya, a survivor of the massacre says the Ugandan government should support victims by fulfilling their promises to construct a museum for the community. This has been the case in other areas affected by conflict, she says, where technical schools and livelihoods projects have been of help to victims and survivors.

“I think the [people in areas] supported by government have strong leadership and representation which helps them to lobby for support for the affected community from the government,” she says, “This is unlike Lukodi where survivors have been abandoned by even the local government leadership.”

Gibson Okullu, the chairperson of the Lukodi survivors group, confirmed Piloya’s statements saying that the group organised the commemoration prayers with very little support from NGOs and local leaders.

“We are ashamed of the District leadership and we feel very bitter that the [Gulu District] Local Government Administration has also abandoned us, just as the Office of the Area Member of Parliament has never supported us in any way,” Okullu stated.

“We are tired of empty promises,” agrees Kennedy Ocaya-Moi, also a survivor of the massacre, “The government promises and never puts the promises to action.”

There are opportunities

Hon. Betty Aol Ocan, the Woman Member of Parliament Gulu District, also attended and spoke during the memorial prayers. While she agreed that little has been done to support the community of Lukodi she also noted that there are opportunities that exist.

“[Right now] Lukodi only [has] a memorial site without any significant project to support the victims and survivors,” Aol Ocan said during her remarks, “As leaders, we are thinking about implementing viable projects which can support the affected communities, unlike presidential pledges that were recently delivered by the Minister of State for Northern Uganda [Grace Kwiyucwiny] to only a few affected people.”

During her speech, Aol Ocan also urged the Ugandan parliament to develop laws providing for permanent amnesty and incorporating elements of the Juba Peace Talk Agreement on Accountability which places emphasis on reparations.

“We do not want a repeat of what happened here in Lukodi. We need peace and witnessing victims staying together which helps them move forward as well as being able to develop projects which are beneficial to their communities and livelihoods,” she said.

Dominic Ongwen

Currently the Lukodi massacre is the subject of the trial of alleged LRA commander Dominic Ongwen at the ICC.  During the memorial prayers, survivors commented on the ongoing proceedings.

Betty Piloya, who had previously travelled to The Hague to watch a hearing in Ongwen’s trial, observed that Ongwen “is not bothered about the crimes he committed”, saying that, when the trial judge asked him about the crimes he is accused of “he was just laughing and he did not look to be remorseful.”

Even though 22 years have passed since the Lord’s Resistance Army rounded up, abducted and massacred hundreds at a trading centre in the Ugandan town of Atiak the community there still comes together every year to commemorate the events of April 1995.

Every year memorial prayers for the massacre take place at a primary school a short distance from where it took place. The prayers bring people from all walks of life, from children who are too young to remember the 20 year war, to elderly people who still bear the memory of loved ones that were lost and never found. A few outsiders also attend to show solidarity.

The purpose of memorial prayers in northern Uganda are often twofold. First, they allow the community to pay respects to the many victims of LRA’s war with the Ugandan government. Second, they bring the community together to draw wider attention to their experiences. In this way, they are used as a tool to make calls to the government and other actors for their justice and reconciliation needs to be addressed.

These kinds of events are significant for a region where hopes are high for redress for years of conflict. But progress here is slow. For instance, a national policy for transitional justice that was meant to provide the means to a reparations programme, truth-telling commissions and traditional justice, among other things, has delayed for years in the Ugandan cabinet with no word on when it will become a reality.

Suffered another blow

Even though we have seen headway in terms of justice with the ongoing proceedings against alleged LRA commanders Thomas Kwoyelo and Dominic Ongwen there are still gaps. Thomas Kwoyelo’s trial at the High Court of Uganda’s International Crimes Division is fraught with delays while Dominic Ongwen’s trial at the ICC, though progressing, is not entirely reflective of the scope of the atrocities that were committed and the range of perpetrators that existed during the LRA-Government of Uganda war.

So when the news came that Ugandan and United States forces were withdrawing troops from their hunt for the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony the hopes of communities like have Atiak suffered another blow. This move comes despite the fact that Kony is still subject to an indictment by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Shaky ground

Already in Uganda notions of international criminal justice exist on shaky ground, with the slow moving transitional justice processes here and the criticisms that institutions like the ICC regularly face. With this withdrawal, however, the likelihood of accountability as well as redress in the form of reparations for victim communities is reduced even further.

The reason that was given for the withdrawal does not help. Ugandan forces are reported to have made the decision to end the pursuit of the LRA because the mission in doing so was “already achieved”. This is problematic because it reinforces the message to victims of the atrocities that are alleged against Kony, as well as their communities, that accountability for the crimes that were committed during the war are not a priority.

Northern Ugandan communities themselves hear and are acutely aware of the meaning of messages like these. Many have come to terms with the fact that they must look towards themselves for redress rather than depend on others. This year, for example, the Atiak memorial prayers were focused on moving towards economic empowerment for the community. During the ceremony a religious leader urged the community to “find ways to work together for a better future.”

But do victims of conflict and their communities in Uganda have to exist in space where they are on their own? To respond to this, the conversation around accountability, justice and reconciliation needs to be shifted to the perspective of the people to whom it matters the most. If, for example, as much money, time and resources that was invested in the hunt for the LRA was instead used to support communities such as Atiak in their pursuit of justice then the impact would have been felt. Accountability for the crimes that were committed cannot be another area of redress for which northern Ugandan communities cannot depend on.

Oryem Nyeko works with the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu, Uganda. He can be found on twitter at @oryembley. This article was originally published on Coalition for the International Criminal Court and is published here with permission.