Minakulu

Minakulu is one of the Sub counties forming Oyam District in Northern Uganda. It is located West of Oyam town and South of Gulu town about 20 kilometres from Oyam district headquarters and 32 kilometres form Gulu district headquarters. 'Minakulu' the name originates from the two words 'Min' meaning 'mother' and 'Kulu'meaning 'well', 'river' or 'source of water.' it is derived from a small tributory of river Nile which the lacal tales say had devastating effects on peoples lives and property due to huge floods sperring the river banks during rainy seasons destroying crops, killing people and animals. the havoc that this nile tributory caused to the people of the area made them perceive it as the mother of all rivers and gave their locality the name 'minakulu' or 'mother of all rivers(wells)'

History

During the Colonisl times, Minakulu was on its way to becoming a business centre as several businesses were established by Indian business men doing retail trade. however, the colonial government in the 1930s passed an ordinance barring 'foreigners' from carrying out retail trade in fear of complete alleanation of the indegenious population and thereby causing a possible uprising. However, being far from the colonial administrative centre, the Indians continued the trade only to 'run away' following the famous Amins dream and decree sending away Indians for 'milking the cow without feeding'.

People

Minakulu is a Lango inhabited subcounty. However, its location at the border of the- Acholi districts of Gulu and Amuru means several acholis are resident in the sub county. This has never caused any rift as the relationhip between the two sub-ethenic groups has historically been smooth with both tribes claiming to have originated from bar-el-gazel in southern Sudan as the 'Luo.' Historians doubt this assertion though. It is for instance thought that the langi belongs to the Ateker group of other tribes like kumam, Iteso and karamajong people who may have migrated from Ethiopia. during the LRA insurgency in Northern Uganda, Minakulu suffered from several raids by the rebels who looked at the sub-county as its food basket. g-nuts, beans, simsim and peas which is procuced in abandance by people of the subcounty were the main targets of the rebels from the 1980s till the Northern Peace talks halted the war in 2007

Education

Minakulu hosts several educational institutions including Minakulu technical school, Dr. Oryang secondary school, Equatorial College - Minakulu, Amwa comprehensive secondary school and 15 primary schools and a couple of nursary schools. the People of the sub-county are fairly educated compared to the rest of the subcounties in the district.

Economy

Minakulu is mainly an agricultural based subcounty. It produces cotton, g-nuts, simsim, cassava, beans, peagon peas and several fruits including oranges, mangoes and pinneaples. these crops were stored and traded using a government aided subsidiary the 'Lango Cooperative Union created by the Obote government in the 1960s. However the world bank liberalisation policy implemented in the 1990s by the new regime of president Yoweri Museveni led to the collapse of this organised commerce. since then, the people of minakulu are less commercial in the traditional sense. rather, there is utter concentration on food crops which are mainly for home use with neglegible surplus sold to local businessmen for onward transportation and sale to Kampala, Ugandas capital city where some basic profit is made. A map showing the location of Minakulu could be found here [1]

Coordinates: 2°26′N 32°23′E / 2.433°N 32.383°E / 2.433; 32.383