LAST month’s decision by the government to pardon Kassim “The Dream” Ouma has led to pleas for clemency by other US-based Uganda army deserters.
Former national boxers Juma Ayiro and James Lubwama who together with Ouma deserted the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces in 1997, are also seeking forgiveness.
Professional boxer Ouma returned home last month from the US after he apologised for deserting the army. He was welcomed hom like a hero and even confirmed he was a free man by visiting the army headquarters in Bombo.
“We want to come back home and see our families. We are appealing to the government and the army to pardon us so that we can come back to our beloved nation,” Ayiro, a former UPDF boxing club captain, told The New Vision on phone.
“We want to know what we should do before the government grants us our freedom to return home,” he pleaded.
Ayiro, Lubwama and Ouma stayed in the US after the World Military Games in San Antonio, Texas in 1997.
They turned professional but, it is only Ouma who made it to the top, winning then losing the IBF world junior-middleweight crown.
Ayiro is in Texas, while his compatriot Lubwama, who was a former national team captain, is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.
