WE ARE COMMITTED TO COMPENSATE WAR VICTIMS IN NORTHERN UGANDA- MUSEVENI

BY MIKE RWOTHOMIO

Zombo

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has assured people of Northern Uganda of the Government's commitment of compensating all war victims in the region.
 
People in northern Uganda underwent unbearable sufferings in the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army Rebel spearheaded by Joseph Kony, who waged a brutal insurgency from their bases in northern Ugandan and southern Sudan to dislodge President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
 
The over two decades of ruthless and inhumane insurgencies in the greater north led to loss of lives and properties, displacing thousands of people.
 
President Museveni, while speaking during the first regional Parliamentary sitting at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu city on August 29, noted of the ever increasing number of war victims, that is posing a big challenge to the compensation plan.
 
"I wanted us to have a dialogue, what is the issue, I will call a meeting and we discuss with the MPs from the area plus the elders, so that you can tell us" The President noted 
 
He added that “Kafuzi said numbers keeps changing and some of the money was taken by lawyers, so many problems, but we are committed"
 
In the fiscal year 2022/23, Government budgeted for 30 billion shs for the compensation of the war victims, which the office of the Attorney general never received.
In 2023/24 financial year, the office received 80 billion shs, taking the average payment so far made to 130 billion, according to the Deputy Attorney general Jackson Kafuzi.
 
Kafunzi noted that what is slow- walking the compensation process is the ever increasing number of war victims in the region 
 
"The problem is the numbers keep increasing your excellency , we had estimated in our last paper to cabinet that if we are to do this exercise once, we would spent 2 trillion shillings and yet the initial pledge by the government was 150 billion,  that is equivalent of 50 billion per sub- region for the three regions ,so the complains keep coming because fewer people received the money"  Kafunzi told the president and the MPs at the First Parliamentary regional sitting at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu city on August 29.
 
This is coming against the backdrop of repeated calls for the compensation of the war victims, by most MPs from Northern Uganda.
 
The military ejected the rebels from the northern region in the mid-2000.  The rebel leader, Joseph Kony, wanted by the ICC over charges of war crimes, is said to be operating in the jungles of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
 
The regions of Acholi, Lango, and West Nile were greatly affected by the insurgencies.
 
Government of Uganda over the years were involved in rehabilitation programme to restore the region's economic and social infrastructure completely battered by the war.