However, I knew that collecting data on such a sensitive theme would not be an easy task not only because of the political nature of war reparations, but also the complex accusations regarding the disappearance of Acholi livestock in which the army had been named. So, I decided to shift the focus of the study to the role played by Acholi War Debt Claimants Association in claiming for war reparations for victims of the war. I knew that while government officials were likely to be suspicious of the motive for my study, in the eyes of the Acholi community I stood the risk of being mistaken for a state agent trying to spy on the authenticity of people’s compensation claims. So, in line with Burawoy (2009), I made it a point to explain to all my potential and actual interlocutors about myself—that I was a lecturer at Gulu University and a PhD student who was only conducting research for the purpose of seeking to understand the challenges in the post war recovery processes in order to guide policy makers. One of the advantages I had was that many of the local government officials (both councillors and civil servants) in Gulu district at the time were my current or former students. This greatly worked in my favour as those who knew me quite often introduced me to those that I had not met.
I collected field data by recording my field notes in my notebooks and took photographs and voice recordings using my smart phone. And in line with the Research Ethics Guidelines issued by Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST 2014), I assured my respondents that I would treat all the information they gave me with maximum confidentiality. I promised not to divulge their identity unless they gave me permission to do so. However, for officers of government, I decided I would mention their positions, while for the Association chairs, they agreed that I could use their real names.
There was another practical challenge. My initial field visits took place in August 2011 when the war had been officially over for about five years, but many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were yet to relocate back to the villages where they lived before the war. It was still risky to traverse the countryside. Hence, I decided to concentrate my data collection efforts in urban and semi-urban areas only. I only went deeper into the villages when I went back for the second phase of data collection from May 2016 and later, from March 2022.
I started collecting additional primary data for this article in March 2022 using qualitative methods which included ten in-depth interviews, four non-structured interviews, one focus group discussion, and non-participant observation. In-depth interviews were mainly with key informants; except for the previous and current chairpersons of the Association, members of the executive of the Association provided most of their data through a focus group discussion. My observation centred on livestock resources as compensation for war crimes and related activities in selected homesteads. Although sheep are important for some traditional rituals, they remain very rare in Acholi domestic economy.
Primary data was obtained from 21 participants. Eleven key informants were purposively sampled to represent both eastern and western Acholi as follows: the two Association chairpersons, the pioneer secretary, the chairman of the compensation committee, a politician, three Local Government staff, and three elders. Unstructured interviews involved the LC 1 chairperson of Paduny village in Awach sub county and three recent beneficiaries of reparations giving a total of four. Six members of the executive council were involved in a focus group discussion. Politicians were represented by the Gulu Resident District Commissioner; while the Local Government technical team was represented by the District Production Officer (DPO), Gulu district, the Coordinator for National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Amuru, and the District Veterinary Officer (DVO), Amuru. The three elders included a retired teacher from Awach sub-county who was currently operating a polota [small shop] in Gulu town, a university don working at Gulu University, and a Rwot (clan chief).