Africa-Press – Uganda. KAMPALA
– Lawyers representing the Acholi and Lango war claimants have accused government of defying a court order on compensation of victims for their livestock and property they lost during the insurgencies in the two sub-regions.
The lawyers allege that the Attorney General (AG) has disregarded the ruling of the court, which directed that government should verify the claimants together with the latter’s representatives.
The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs constituted an inter-ministerial verification committee to compile and verify the compensation claims in liaison with local government officials in the affected regions. The validation will be done at sub-county level.
This is in response to President Museveni’s pledge to pay Shs50 billion to the claimants directly without going through their court representatives.
The President made the pledge while campaigning in Lango in November last year. But Mr Makmot Kibwanga, a lawyer representing some of the war claimants, accused government attorneys of not involving them in the verification process and that their actions amounted to amending the court judgment.
“They are treating it (compensation) as a government programme which is usurping the court powers. But we are mindful of the laws and processes and after thorough consultations with our clients, we shall apply to court by way of court proceedings against the AG and the officials,” Mr Kibwanga said.
According to the lawyers, there is a group of people in government and AG’s office who are taking over the process in abuse of their authority and public funds by way of paying directly to the claimants in disregard of the lawyers.
“They are acting like a court of law and to make matters worse, they only pinned notices at the districts and sub-counties after amending the claims and the list of claimants without the knowledge and consent of the beneficiaries,” he added.
One of the beneficiaries who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, said in Acholi, the number of claimants was reduced from 23,000 to 16,000.
“We have complained to the AG’s office and they promised to reinstate them,” said the beneficiary, adding that they are expecting the payment as soon as the exercise is complete in May and April.
When contacted, Deputy AG, Mr Jackson Kafuuzi, confirmed that the verification and validation exercise is ongoing and that the lists of claimants have been displayed at sub-counties for the beneficiaries to cross-check and inform chief administrative officers of any anomalies.
Mr Kafuuzi said the compensation will be done in 38 districts in Acholi, Lango, Teso and Karamoja and that officials have been dispatched to monitor the verifications.
“We have close to 96,000 in three sub-regions of Acholi, Lango and Teso and it is compensation specifically for livestock. We are also trying to do assessment of the prices in the regions so that a cross cutting figure is found to avoid public outcry,” said Mr Kafuuzi.
About complaints by lawyers against the AG, Mr Kafuuzi challenged them to present documents but insisted that it was a Cabinet decision to pay claimants directly and also enter an understanding with the lawyers who represented the claimants in courts.
He declined to comment on accusations of defying the court judgement, but insisted there is no cause for alarm as claimants’ lawyers will be engaged. [email protected]
