After 15 years of the failed attempts to arrest the Lord Resistance Army’s leader Joseph Kony, RX Radio Presenters Fatboy and Olive Najjuma have argued that the rebel leader’s delayed arrest could be a deliberate move.
The Presenters made the assumptions after the US Department of State announced a reward of 17 billion shillings to anyone that will provide details of the whereabouts of the LRA leader.
For 20 years, the rebel leader has brutalized and terrorized people in northern Uganda, killing over 100,000 people and almost 2 million people into DR Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. He is accused of committing and ordering vast murders, recruiting boy children into rebel activities and turning girls into sex slaves.
“Kony is suspected to be hiding in a village somewhere in the Central African Republic (CAR) or DR Congo. But if they know that he's in a remote area, shouldn't it be easier to find the guy? Could it be that he is being funded by some foreign agents?” Olive asked.
Fatboy in assent responded, “I hope it's not going to turn out to be like the Bin Laden situation where for several years they knew that he was in Pakistan until one day they decided to take him out. They raided the place and took him out without an issue and later Obama was left to claim credit for it and got hailed as a great leader. So is Kony being neglected until it might seem useful that he gets taken out?”
Olive further added that it may be because his commanders have been arrested, referring to Domnic Ongwen, one of Kony’s senior military commanders who was charged by the ICC last year.
Fatboy then wondered why the United States wasn't hiring mercenaries to carry out the job. “Surely there are mercenaries, some former military green berets0 MI6 guys.” Olive also proposed off-the-book agents in the CIA which she thought could be the best fit for the mission.
The prize money was first declared in 2013 by the Obama administration under a provision of the War Crimes Rewards Programme initiated by John Kerry, the former US State Secretary. It was later expanded to include awards for information on the crime suspects.
The LRA is said to have killed 25,000 Ugandan children and displaced over 2 million people from their home residences in between 1987 to 2006 during warfare with the UPDF.
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The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.