By Jennifer Acheng
The joint security forces have accused the political leaders in the Karamoja region of interfering with the compensation process of reformed Karachunas.
In May this year, President Yoweri Museveni granted amnesty to the Karachunas still harboring illegal fire arms, encouraging them to voluntarily handover guns, and in turn receive incentives from government to improve on their livelihoods. However, to date, government is yet to fulfill the pledges.
A section of community members has since attributed the resurgence of insecurity to the delay by government to fulfill it pledges saying some Karachunas have now returned to criminality in desperation.
Speaking to Etoil A Karamoja on the issue, Micheal Longole the Mt Moroto regional police spokesperson however, says the delays in compensating the Karachunas has been partly caused by the fight between the security forces and the political leaders.
Longole claims that the political leaders often exaggerate the numbers and alternate names of the Karachunas submitted by the security forces, causing confusion and delaying the whole process. He however, called for patience among the Karachunas saying they will be compensated.
Elijah Lobur, the LC3 Chairperson Rengen sub-county says the issue could be brought about by those leaders who want to include names of those karuchunas whose guns were recovered forcefully, as well as leaders who want to please their voters.
But Moses Adungo, the LC3 Chairperson Lokitelaebu T/C refuted the claims saying there is need for the security forces and political leaders to dialogue and iron out such issues.
Similarly, Simon Peter Lokonyen, the Kapeeta S/C LC3 Chairperson described the accusations as baseless, saying they have been working hand in hand with the verification team to submit the names of the rightful beneficiaries.
About 539 youth from Kotido district are expected to benefit from 14,014 iron sheets with each receiving 26 iron sheets
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