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LRA war survivors cry out again over pay
Ms Beatrice Avitiru is consoled by other war survivors while recounting the ordeal where her two-year-old son was killed by LRA rebels. PHOTO | FELIX WAROM OKELLO
What you need to know:
- At the weekend, a total of 200 members besieged the presidential lodge in Arua City in a demonstration over non-payment of their compensation.
More than 1,000 Lords Resistance War (LRA) survivors across West Nile Sub-region have reinstated their demand of about Shs99b in compensation.
At the weekend, a total of 200 members besieged the presidential lodge in Arua City in a demonstration over non-payment of their compensation.
They claimed that while President Museveni had directed that they be paid, some officials in the Defence ministry were deliberately frustrating the President’s directives.
For about three hours, the demonstrators camped at the entrance of the Presidential lodge.
The chairperson of Kony War Victims Association, Mr Alex Matua, said they had done all that was requested of them, but claimed the compensation exercise is being frustrated.
“We do not have money to go to State House in Nakasero or Entebbe to meet the President every time. We have waited for too long. If the victims in Acholi, Lango and Teso were all compensated, why are we not being considered as human? Are we not Ugandans?” he asked.
One of the survivors, Mr Alhai Rashid Ciriga from Lodonga Sub-county in Yumbe district, said: “Up to now, the bullets are still stuck in my arm. It needs Shs3 million for operation but I cannot get the money. I was hoping that once compensated, the operation would be done.”
He said he lost businesses after he was shot on October 3, 1997 aboard a contour bus and his merchandise were all burnt in the bus.
“It has been difficult to educate my children because the only business failed. My son was shot on the shoulder and is now disabled and he cannot do anything tangible. Why is the government neglecting us?” he asked.
The non-compensation has been dogged by bad politics, and lack of commitment by the political leaders to front their plight. As a result of non-payment, they have now resorted to courts of law to seek redress.
Some of the survivors have died before accessing the payments.
The lawyer for the victims, Mr Sam Ondoma, said his clients are wondering why the letters written to the various concerned offices are not being complied with.
“Some of my clients cannot now do anything because they lost capital, they cannot pay children’s school fees, they are frustrated, their businesses collapsed, they have been living on promise for more than 20 years, they are hungry and angry,” Mr Ondoma said.
On December 14, 2020, Hajj Yusuf Kakande, then a secretary in the office of the president, wrote to the permanent secretary of the Defence ministry to see to it that the victims are paid since it had taken more than 20 years.
On June 20, 2022, the principal private secretary to the President, Dr Kenneth Omona, wrote to the attorney general on behalf of the President to ensure that Kony war victims are compensated for their loss.
Growing desperate that they may not be compensated, the victims approached the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, on May 2. Ms Among then wrote to the AG to ensure that action is taken to pay the war victims all of which have not yielded results.
It is now about 20 years since the guns went silent in Northern Uganda following several atrocities that were allegedly committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
Travellers from West Nile were not spared at the peak of the war. Businessmen, students, civil servants and other locals were killed, abducted, and injured while goods and vehicles were burnt in ambushes in the Murchison Falls Park on the Pakwach-Karuma highway.
Others vehicles were attacked on their way from Adjumani to Kampala on Amuru District.
