The Minister for ICT and National Guidance has said Cabinet has approved a Shs5m compensation for each household in Teso, Acholi and Lango sub-regions for cattle lost during wars in the past.
Addressing journalists yesterday, Dr Chris Baryomunsi said the decision was made during the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
The Shs5m is the monetary value of five animals that the government plans to compensate the affected households.
Dr Baryomusi said the government will use the Parish Development Committee members instead of lawyers or other middlemen to identify the beneficiary families, who will directly be given the cash, as the monetary value of five cows.
He explained that Cabinet decided to support the areas because they were hit by the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, which caused social disruptions.
He said the government will support individual households with five heifers each valued at Shs1m to address poverty, livelihoods and the quality of life and restock the cattle in those areas.
Asked when the payment for the compensation will start, Dr Baryomunsi said government has already set aside some money to kick start the process, which will be conducted in phases.
During the just-concluded presidential elections, Opposition figures used the cattle compensation issue as a bait to woo voters in Teso, Lango, and Acholi sub-regions.
Acholi lost their animals during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war led by Joseph Kony.
The insurgency in northern Uganda started in the 1980s when Alice Lakwena waged war against the government, terrorising areas of Lango and Teso where she and her troops passed as they tried to capture Kampala city.
The three sub-regions also suffered cattle rustling from Karimojong herdsmen, who often raided them at gunpoint using illegal arms that were believed to be coming from Sudan, which lowered the cattle population in the areas.
Previously, the government made attempts to compensate some families but the money ended up in the hands of wrong beneficiaries.