Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has called upon the people of Acholi to rise up against crime. He was speaking at the burial of Christine Anyeko, daughter of Rev. Nelson Onono Onweng, in Gulu on Wednesday.
“Before we even start to look to RDCs and DISOs what are we doing in our households and communities to ensure that we raise children who respect lives? It saddens me that young people are the one killing nowadays”, He said.
He questioned the decline in community watch and attributed the rise of heinous crimes such as murder in villages to poor parenting.
“A child when born is like a plain white piece of paper… the parents are the first to write on him/ her, then the teachers and communities. For a child to hold a knife and butcher another human being… what writings were put on this child?, he asked.
He urged the communities and stake holders to strengthen vigilance starting from their neighbors but above all to form what he called “a circle of friends”
This he says will ensure that people watch over one another because they are all benefiting from it.
The leader of opposition, Betty Aol Ochan faulted the leadership of Gulu and warned them against laxity. She called for a return of ‘operations’ a security sweep that she believe enables security forces to exterminate all wrong doers.
Lyandro Komakech, thé MP for Gulu municipality in agreement with the LOP blamed the rise in crime in Gulu on the security leaders.
He wondered how young people roaming the streets of Gulu selling marijuana with no reserve are not arrested while security looks on
Ms Anyeko was ambushed on her way home on the 31st of December 2018 by an unknown assailant who demanded money but when she said she did not have hacked her five times with a knife.
She was taken to hospital but later succumbed to death from the wounds of the attack.
Mourners from all walks of life attended the funeral and among which was Major General Otema Awany, Bishop Odukami from Lango Bishop Kitara of Kitgum, relatives, friends and in-laws.
