A member of the Ugandan parliament threw colleagues into laughter when he attempted to define ‘nyash’ on the floor of the house, and to relate Northern Ugandan women ‘nyash’ sizes with low quantities of milk in the area.
MP Jonathan Odur, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) politician serving as the Erute South MP sought to push government to expedite cattle compensation for Northern Uganda.
inistry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs is requesting UGX473 billion to compensate claimants from the Acholi, Lango, and Teso sub-regions for cattle lost during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict in Northern Uganda.
On January 16, 2025, while appearing before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Nobert Mao said government needed Shs473 billion to compensate claimants who lost their cattle in the sub regions of Acholi, Lango, and Teso during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war in Northern Uganda.
Minister Mao noted that the issue of compensation needed to be worked on as the country heads into the 2026 elections as people have been complaining about it and as it remains a major election issue in the region.
“As we approach an election year, it is crucial that we address this issue. The regions seeking compensation are among the poorest, according to UBOS data. This compensation could help reduce poverty and foster national unity,” Mao told the committee in January 2025.
As things stood then, Mao’s Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs had paid Shs16.14 billion to 11,250 cattle claimants from Acholi, Lango, and Teso by the end of December 2024.
So, as the committee of the whole house moved to consider the vote for compensation, MP Odur blamed the small nyash sizes for Northern Ugandan women on the scarcity of milk.
He also made an attempt at giving his fellow colleagues in parliament the definition of ‘nyash,’ throwing them in laughter.
“The lack of milk in the entire Lango, Teso and Acholi has given people the opportunity to ridicule us in public, especially our ladies, that they don’t have “nyash”. How do we get this when we don’t have milk?” Odur wondered.
“Speaker, nyash has been defined as that body part capable of producing water, and it’s because of milk.”
In the end, Minister Mao assured Odur that the sub regions of Lango, Acholi and Teso will each get Shs50bn for the cattle compensation in the next financial year.
Uganda’s parliament is often a place of laughter and punches. Previously, a female MP was filmed massaging a male colleague, while others complained about a fellow MP’s American accent. (See Details Here, There and Over There).
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