Three charged over cattle compensation in Otuke district

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Three people have been charged with theft and unlawful possession of national identity cards (NIDs) belonging to individuals meant to get cattle compensation worth shillings 500 million in Otuke district.

On Wednesday, July 16, security officials attached to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) and Criminal Investigations Directorate, arraigned Denith Obua, Joel Okeng and Jonan Ayo before Magistrates’ Court Otuke to answer the charges.

Subsequently, the trio were charged before the court and remanded until July 22, 2025, after denying the charges.

Under the Penal Code Act, the offence of theft attracts a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment, on conviction, while the offence of unlawful possession of NIDs, under Registration of Personal’s Act, elicits a three-year jail term.

According to the SHACU, during the registration for cattle compensation and account opening, the accused and others still at large obtained bank details of their victims, who are mostly elderly and have since been operating their accounts, stealing money paid by the government for cattle compensation.

The prosecution alleges that the accused denied the victims their bank account details, blocking them from accessing their money.

According to the prosecution, over 500 million has so far been taken from the victims in the scam and investigations are still ongoing.

On January 16, 2025, justice ministry minister Nobert Mao requested shillings 473 billion to compensate claimants from the regions of Acholi, Lango, and Teso for the cattle lost during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict.

LRA, a militia that terrorised northern Uganda and neighbouring countries in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, is led by Joseph Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On April 23, 2025, the Government allocated shillings 150 billion to the justice ministry to compensate war debt claimants in the Acholi, Lango and Teso sub-regions for cattle lost during the insurgencies.

Each region is expected to receive shillings 50 billion, subject to Parliamentary approval.

A recent report by Parliament’s Assurance and Implementation Committee shows that only sh30.8b has been released for compensation in the last two financial years for the Acholi sub-region.

Teso region has so far received shillings 54.9 billion for cattle compensation, with claimants from Kapelebyong district receiving sh4b, while Kalaki sh6b. The claimants received money ranging from shillings 2.5 million to 98 million.