Bismarck Otto Ochieng with his file at the Acholi war Debt Claimants Association office last week. PHOTO BY CISSY MAKUMBI.
By CISSY MAKUMBI & PATRICK LAKAA
In Summary
The former secretary Anaka Town Board wants district authorities and the ministry to help him access his pension.
Nwoya
When guns went silent in northern Uganda after two
decades of war, communities embarked on resettlement and reconstruction
of their homes. Several residents are engaging in farming, business and
other income-generating activities.
However, for Bismarck Otto Ochieng, 68, a retired civil servant, the situation has been different.
A resident of Lalele Omol Village in Anaka Sub-county in Nwoya District, Otto worked as a Master Clerk (head of secretaries) Anaka Town Board for 10 years before the war forced him out of his job in 2003.
Confined to a wheelchair all his life time, Otto then took refuge in former Anaka camp. He says his documents, including appointment and recommendation letters, were burnt in the hut when the Lord
Resistance Army rebels attacked the area. “I have never received any money regarding the services I rendered to this country and nobody wants to help me,” says Otto. When Otto visited the Chief Administrative Officer, he was advised to visit the Ministry of Local Government and lodge a complaint regarding his pension. He, however, says he cannot afford transport.
The CAO Nwoya District, Mr Moses Bukenya, declined to comment on the matter regarding Otto’s pension.
At the moment, Otto is banking on compensation by government to thousands of people who lost their cattle during various wars in the sub-region. “I am processing my documents so that I can benefit from the animal compensation to make ends meet,” says the old man.
The government recently released Shs5.5 billion to at least 20,000 members of the Acholi War Debt Claimants Association as compensation for animals and property lost during insurgencies in the region.
This brings the total amount of money given to claimants to Shs12 billion out of the expected Shs35 trillion.
Waiting for compensation
Even when Otto hopes to restock his animals, he is not sure how he will take care of them since he is wheelchair strapped. His wife and three children left Otto in 2005 after he failed to fend for them. “My pension would be better if am helped in any way to access it,” says Otto. He depends on handouts from neighbours but he is worried about encroachment on his six acres of land.
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