Museveni orders probe into cattle raids in Acholi

February 16 is a day gazette nationally in memory of the late Archbishop Janani Luwum, the Church of Uganda’s first archbishop who was brutally murdered by Idi Amin’s regime in 1977.

This year’s celebration was marked under the theme “United for Service and Growth”.

Mr Museveni said he was getting disturbed by multiple reports about continuous armed raids despite proper security deployment on the borders of districts of the Acholi Sub-region with Karamoja.

READ: Balaalo defy Museveni, sneak cattle back into Acholi region

According to him, a detailed investigation report by the ministers will guide him on what action to take against the vice.  “I am sorry to hear about the Karamojong raiders continuing to disturb this area. I now direct the RDCs, coordinated by Okello-Oryem and Kwiyocwiny. I want a detailed report about these raids, day-by-day, and place,” he said.

“We have the capacity to finish this nonsense, we have everything and nobody should be disturbing our people,” the President added.

While the poor communities in Acholi continue to lose animals and resources due to the raids, Mr Museveni said he was disappointed that the army deployed to counter the raiders keep ignoring the severity of the rustling problem.

“When I talked to the army commander, he told me the incidents of raids were few, few incidents for what? Why? We cannot be having problems after problems, it is not necessary. When I met some leaders at Barlegi, I met with the leaders of the army, and politicians, if somebody has raided animals, get him because the government has got so much capacity,” the head of State said.

Mr Museveni also challenged the army and police to deploy sniffer dogs to trace every incident of the raid in Acholi.

“You have got police dogs, they can follow the track of somebody and get them. Why don’t you use them to trace these people? They can walk 10km without stopping. We used the dogs to trace suspects in killings in Masaka and other areas. We followed them up to their bedrooms.” 

If the army and police fail to end the castle rustling problem by March, Mr Museveni says he would relocate to the Sub-region to face the raiders head-on.

“In the middle of March, I will camp in these areas, in Barlegi and here, if they have not solved those problems, I will solve them myself. I am going to take these army and police people head-on, I don’t want to hear the issue of insecurity, he added.

The President also  said he was disappointing that majority of Ugandans continue to wallow in poverty despite infrastructural development and improved service delivery.

“Now we have tarmac [roads], the health facilities, and schools, but have they solved the poverty challenge? Poverty is in the homes, poverty is in homesteads, the tarmac road is there, but if you don’t use it to create wealth, you will still be poor,’’ he added.

He cited Kalangala and Bundibigyo districts where the people have engaged in the commercial production of cocoa and palm oil despite the limited infrastructural development.

“Kalangala District doesn’t have tarmac as we have here, but they have taken to palm oil growing and now they are much richer than many parts of the country. Bundibugyo has palm oil, coffee, cocoa, and they were rich even if development was not there in their area.” 

Church demands

In his speech, the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Stephen Kaziimba, appealed to the President to come to the Church’s rescue in salvaging a Shs16 billion debt over the Janani Luwum Church House.

“We have been paying our debt of hs60b and now we are remaining with Shs16b. We appeal that the Shs41 billion (in compensation for the Makerere land) be placed in this year’s budget,” Bishop Kaziimba said.

However, in reaction, President Museveni immediately tasked his Principal Private Secretary, Dr Kenneth Omona, to meet Bishop Kaziimba to discuss the details of the loan.

President Museveni applauded the Church of Uganda for its efforts in poverty eradication.

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