President Museveni Gives One-Month Ultimatum for Audit of Cattle Compensation Beneficiaries
By Kizindo Lule | Kampala, Uganda
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has issued a one-month ultimatum for the verification and audit of all recipients and pending claimants of the cattle compensation funds in Northern Uganda. The move is aimed at adopting a uniform rehabilitation rate for all pending beneficiaries.
The directive follows a three-year compensation process for families in Acholi, Lango, and Teso sub-regions who lost cattle during the 1970s insurgencies and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war, which devastated the region’s economy.
A committee led by the Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hillary Onek, has been tasked with harmonizing the lists and streamlining the process.
Government launched the cattle compensation plan in 2022. Since then, over 28,000 claimants have been paid across the three sub-regions, while payments to about 16,000 beneficiaries remain pending until the next budget allocation.
However, during a recent meeting with leaders from Acholi, Lango, and Teso, an additional list of 12,000 claimants was presented. The development raised concerns about the credibility of the process, prompting President Museveni’s intervention.
The President has since reframed the initiative, describing it not as “cattle compensation” but as a rehabilitation scheme, arguing that the wars’ consequences were widespread, unquantifiable, and affected all communities.
He further tasked leaders and residents, particularly in Lango, to propose the most appropriate way forward for handling the scheme.
