The Government’s plan to repatriate Ugandans linked to former rebel leader Alice Lakwena and supporters of former President Apollo Milton Obote from Kenya and Zambia, nearly four decades after they fled the country, has been delayed by a lack of funding.
State Minister for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Beatrice Akello Akori says although President Yoweri Museveni has pardoned the exiles and directed the Government to facilitate their return, the Ministry currently has no budget allocation for the repatriation exercise.
Akori says the Government plans to provide funding for the exercise in the 2027-28 financial year, while exploring the possibility of beginning the process during the current 2026-27 financial year if resources become available.
It remains unclear how much the Government will spend on the repatriation. However, Akori says the exercise will be undertaken either during the current financial year or in the 2027-28 financial year. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have the budget in the Ministry of Northern Uganda for that activity. So we are now including that in the next financial year’s budget to help us,” Akori said.
The proposed repatriation covers former fighters associated with Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement (HSM), some of whom are living in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp, as well as Ugandans who fled to Zambia with former President Obote.
Akori says that while the Government is working to secure funding, engagements are already underway with authorities in Kenya and Zambia, as well as cultural and local leaders in the Acholi Subregion, to ensure the returnees are safely received and reintegrated into their communities.
“We held several engagement meetings, even with Ker Kwaro and the local leadership within the region, to ensure that we complete the process and bring back these people safely home,” Akori said.
The minister says the decision to facilitate the return of the exiles followed requests from their representatives to President Museveni. She says the President subsequently pardoned the former fighters and granted them amnesty, paving the way for their return.
Lakwena, who founded the HSM, fled to Kenya with her supporters after the movement was defeated by President Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA) in November 1987. Uganda Radio Network understands that about 150 fighters crossed into Kenya with Lakwena after the defeat. Lakwena died in Kenya in January 2007.
Her younger sister, Doreen Adokorach, told Uganda Radio Network that fewer than 50 former HSM fighters remain in Kenya. She said many others sought asylum in North America, while some died and were buried in Dadaab. Adokorach welcomed the Government’s decision to facilitate their return, describing it as a significant gesture towards former fighters who have spent nearly four decades in exile.
“I requested the government to repatriate them; they have suffered a lot, and it’s worth that they should be brought back home. They have lived there in miserable conditions, and some died and were buried in Kenya, like Walter and Roslyn Arach, whose bodies should also be exhumed and repatriated,” she said. Former President Obote went into exile after he was overthrown in a military coup in 1985. He died in South Africa on October 10, 2005.
It remains unclear how many of Obote’s former supporters who fled to Zambia are still living there. Efforts to obtain a comment from former President Obote’s son, Jimmy Michael Akena, who is also the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) president, were unsuccessful by press time-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
