By Patrick Okino

THE Government’s comprehensive Peace, Recovery and Development Programme (PRDP) should be channelled directly to the affected people not through NGOs.

“Many times we do not see the money the Government sends through humanitarian agencies and above all, a lot of billions have been spent by the donor communities to rehabilitate the North, but no impact has been made,” Franco Ojur, the Lira district LC5 chairman, said.

Ojur together with MPs Rebecca Otengo, Benson Obua Ogwal, Jimmy Akena and John Odit were recently attending a consultative meeting with the LRA peace team on accountability and reconciliation at Akii Bua Stadium.

They said the Government should allocate sh3m to each household affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda to help them fight poverty. The insurgency has led to poverty in Lango, Acholi and Teso. Therefore, to eradicate it, each household should be given sh3m,” Ojur added.

President Yoweri Museveni last month launched a sh1trillion project under PRDP to rehabilitate northern Uganda after it excessively swam in the LRA rebellion led by Joseph Kony for decades. The programme would help the region catch up with other parts of Uganda in terms of development according to Museveni.

Otengo said the programme should be designed properly to avoid bureaucracy, corruption and mismanagement of funds. She said the process of accessing the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund was bureaucratic and contributed to misappropriation of the projects’ funds.

Chrispus Odongo, a lawyer, said they had agreed that the Government compensates people who lost their properties during the conflict.