Land: The Most Valuable Resource for Acholi’s Future

By Okello P’ Okumu, (2023)

BALALO! BALALO! BALALO!

These are trying times.

I have always emphasized that in this world, only two resources are truly indispensable – land and water. Without them, human life and activity cannot exist.

Think about it: No road, hospital, school, bank, or farm can be built without land. And none of these can function without water. No land, no water — no life. It’s that simple.

So why are we treating them so carelessly?

Somehow, many in this generation, especially in Acholi, have come to believe that selling land is a way to escape poverty. But this is a dangerous illusion. If anything, selling land only deepens poverty.

Our forefathers understood this. They took pride in owning land, not for selling, but for using it to build wealth and leave a legacy. Land was power, pride, and provision. It sustained families for generations.

Now, we sell acres of fertile, ancestral land just to buy a motorcycle or pay short-term school fees. That is not an investment – it is self-destruction.

A Wake-Up Call for Acholi Leadership

It’s time for both our political and cultural leaders to step up. The Acholi people must be guided, educated, and mobilized to use our vast land for sustainable economic gain and not one-time cash-outs.

Acholi sub-region has enormous potential:

• A population of less than 4 million

• Over 28,500 km² of flat, arable land

• That’s more land than Rwanda (26,338 km², 13+ million people) or Burundi (27,834 km², 12+ million people)

In fact, only Buganda sub-region is larger than Acholi in Uganda. And much of Karamoja, the third-largest, is arid and government-controlled. So, Acholi has a rare, fertile treasure that we are tragically wasting.

Why Are We Not Growing Wealth?

Other regions have built wealth around cash crops:

• Buganda and Bugisu: coffee

• Western Uganda: tea, cocoa, coffee, beef and dairy farming

What about Acholi? What’s our cash crop? What’s our economic identity?

We have the land, but not the mindset or systems to turn it into wealth. That’s the real problem. The Balalo issue is just a symptom — a sign that we’ve lost the value and vision for our own land.

Time to Rethink, Reclaim, and Rebuild

Let’s stop the ignorance. Let’s stop the rudimentary thinking. Let’s stop selling away our future to solve temporary problems.

Land and water are not commodities; they are our birthright and our best chance at prosperity.

The Acholi leadership must urgently:

• Identify profitable, land-based industries

• Inspire and organize the people to engage in those activities

• Protect land ownership and promote its productive use

The time to act is now. If we do not value our land, someone else will — and already is.

BALALO! BALALO! BALALO! should not just be a cry of frustration — it should be a call to wake up, rise, and reclaim what is rightfully ours.