Role of the Association: Analysing State-claimants’ Relations
When I met the then chairperson of the Association in 2011, Eng. Opwonya, he told me about the processes involved in compiling the lists of claimants.
The register contained all the necessary details about a claimant: his physical address, location in terms of village, parish, sub county, county, and district. It also contained the claim(s), the period (year) when he lost the property, the circumstances under which he lost it, and the monetary value which was attached to the claim(s), among other things.
But he stressed that the above process was not as simple as it may sound. It required human resources prepared to take up the responsibility without expecting monetary compensation; the Association did not have any external source of funding that would enable it to pay. Other logistics required to accomplish the stated tasks included transport for the voluntary enumerators, counter books in which to take and keep the records and secure storage for the recorded material. He stressed that nothing was taken for granted. The data obtained from each claimant had to be authenticated and certified by the Local Council officers in the areas where the claims were made to ensure that those making such claims were telling the truth. Once these claims had been verified, they were taken to the Association’s head office in Gulu town where they were entered into the computer by the Association’s secretary and thereafter stored both in hard and soft copy.
However, much as those conducting the registration exercise were volunteering, minimal financial resources were required to facilitate them to do the job effectively. When I asked this same question to the pioneer chair, Norbert Adyera who was now out of office, he confirmed the information as correct.
The next question to Eng Opwonya was how he and his colleagues got the money they spent in their operations. To this question, he explained:
Unlike other organisations involved in post war development projects, our Association never received any donor aid. The money we rely on is the small contributions that come from the members themselves in form of membership fees. There are people who have accused us of not being fair to those who lost property but do not have money to pay membership fee. There is nothing we can do about that. To be a member, one must pay.
Although interviewed differently and a few years apart, the two chairmen were also in agreement on the issue of membership.
Regarding accusations that officials of the Association were misusing the funds for their own personal benefit, Eng Opwonya complained:
The government does not even appreciate that we are doing their work for them. We have provided the infrastructure for handling war reparations which has saved them a lot of time and resources, but instead of being grateful to us they are simply treating us as if we are thieves.