Kampala — A TOTAL of sh1.7b has been earmarked to compensate people whose body parts were cut-off by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The programme will be implemented by the justice and constitutional affairs ministry this financial year, a senior official from the Prime Minister's office has disclosed.

The permanent secretary, Pius Bigirimana, said over 1.6 million internally displaced persons had returned to their homes while over 317,000, comprising the elderly, the sick and people with land problems, were in transit camps.

He was reacting to concerns raised at the first Peace, Reconstruction and Development Programme (PRDP) meeting at Hotel Africana, Kampala on Monday.

Bigirimana, however, did not explain the criteria to be used to give out the money and how many people would benefit.

A participant had asked the Government to compensate women whose lips were cut-off during the insurgency, saying they had been abandoned by their husbands and stigmatised by society.

In 2006, the chief of defence forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, directed northern Uganda intelligence chief Col. Charles Otema-Awany, to register the victims for compensation.

Nyakairima also directed that people who were injured by the Government forces be registered.

Oyam district Woman MP Beatrice Lagada urged the Government to include trauma in the PRDP.

She argued that the Commonwealth Youth Centre in Gulu district would not adequately address the psych-socio issues.