Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate Nathan Nandala Mafabi has blamed persistent poverty in Northern Uganda on the government’s failure to compensate victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency, saying unresolved wartime injustices continue to hinder the region’s recovery.
Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Koch Goma Town Council, Nwoya District, Mafabi said thousands of families have remained trapped in poverty because they were never compensated for lives and property lost during the two-decade conflict.
“If government had compensated the people that lost their dear ones and properties, by now Northern Uganda would not be suffering from the effects of poverty,” Mafabi said.
The LRA insurgency, led by Joseph Kony, ravaged Northern Uganda between 1987 and the mid-2000s, leaving a legacy of mass abductions, killings, and displacement that destroyed livelihoods and disrupted generations of development.
Mafabi pledged that if elected, an FDC-led government would compensate war victims with accumulated interest to reflect the long wait families have endured.
\He also vowed to end land grabbing and ensure that land wrongfully taken during or after the conflict is returned to its rightful owners, in line with the FDC manifesto.
The opposition leader further promised direct financial support to rural communities, pledging that each village would receive Shs100 million to stimulate local enterprise and household income.
He added that the government funds distributed under the Parish Development Model would be treated as supplementary support to these initiatives.
Mafabi urged residents to rally behind the FDC’s key symbol in the upcoming elections, saying the party’s agenda focuses on justice, economic transformation, and the protection of land and livelihoods in post-war regions.
