A group of more than 100 businessmen and women who were injured and those who lost relatives and merchandise in the Kony insurgency that stretched between 1996 to the early 2000s along Kampala Pakwach Road have stormed the state lodge in Mvara village Arua city demanding their compensation.
These unite under the umbrella of the Kony Way Victims Association in Arua City totaling 1102 people demanding about sh.99bn from the Government as compensation.
Alemiru Constance, one of the victims says that on September 19, 2002, the bus she was travelling in was set on fire by the rebels and she lost all her family.
"I still have bomb fragments in my head, I can't carry anything on my head nor can I plait my hair. In that attack, I lost my husband and a 3-year-old child. Up to now, they don't have graves. I was also pregnant and I lost the baby. I want the government to pay me. I lost my merchandise as I was coming from Kiyindi to get 'Mukene"' she said.
They had dragged the Government to Court after it failed to solve their grievances but later in May 2021, they withdrew the case and since then, they have issuing ultimatums and going on hunger strikes. According to their lawyer, Sam Ondoma of Alaka and Co. Advocates, these will go back to court if their issue is not addressed.
"My clients have done everything they were told to do, that's why you see these responses, for example, on June 06, 2023, the team wrote to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs, demanding the response regarding the claim, sadly the Permanent Secretary has not replied to the letter, even the speaker of Parliament wrote in vain". Ondoma said.
Matua Alex, the chairman of the Kony War Victims Association says that out of frustration, some of their members have started committing suicide while others die of stress. They now say that they have run out of patience as the economic hardship continues to bite hard.
"We were told to form an association in order to be compensated but out of the 1102 people, more than 100 have died before getting what the government owes them" Matua said.
