Good bye Mzee Okeny Tiberia Atwoma

The people of Acholi; northern Uganda and, indeed, Uganda as a whole will live to remember the October 12, and October 24. The first date was when Mzee Tiberio Okeny Atwoma passed on at Lacor Hospital. The second one was when he was laid to rest at his Oryang Ojuma village home.

J.L Okello-Okello

The burial of Atwoma was attended by a huge crowd of mourners. People came in droves from all walks of life. Some walked 100 kilometres or more on foot to go and attend the burial because they had no better means of transport. President Museveni ‘graced’ the occasion with his presence as the ‘chief mourner.’ There was no partisanship. All the main political parties – Democratic Party (DP), Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) – were represented by their leaders or deputies in person.
All major religions – Catholic, Anglican, and Islam were effectively represented at the highest level. But more importantly, the government made it an official burial, with the State taking care of all expenses while honouring Mzee Atwoma with a three-gun salute. It was a day to be remembered.

Thanks go to the medical staff at Mulago Cancer Institute and Lacor Hospital; Christ the King Church, Kampala, for organising his funeral service and the Parliament of Uganda for paying glowing tribute to him on October 22, 2012. Atwoma will be remembered for his love for the people of Acholi and Uganda, his courage and his truthfulness.
The burial of Atwoma went on quite successfully, but there were some hiccups worth mentioning. First, being an official burial, two flag poles were erected in his compound. On the day of burial, one pole had the national flag while the other did not have any. Reason? The National Resistance Movement (NRM) functionaries refused DP district officials flying their party flag side by side with the national one. Some UPC officials tried to intercede but to no avail.

There were many speeches. The first one was by the LC I chairman, Charles Ongaya, who put his points clearly and precisely to Mr Museveni; such as compensation for the 13 people who were murdered in cold blood by National Resistance Army (NRA) in its early days; building a vocational school in memory of Mzee Atwoma; getting jobs for Atwoma’s children. Many speeches followed, including that of the chief mourner – President Museveni.

Good speeches but...
Most of the speeches were good but a few needed clarifications. It was stated by one or two speakers that Acholi and Langi did not want to ‘join’ the rest of Uganda and it was Atwoma who persuaded them to do so. That, in a rally at Kitgum Matidi Sub-county Headquarters, Atwoma put 100 people against two in a tag-of-war where the 100 represented the rest of Uganda and the two represented Acholi and Lango. The 100 easily pulled the two. It was my first time to hear this story. In the past the rallies were partisan – either DP or UPC, never together. How many Langi were taken to Kitgum Matidi to be persuaded or what occasion it was, was not also explained.

Another un-clarified statement was that Atwoma lost the parliamentary election in 1980 because many of his DP voters in Orom Sub-county were transferred to Lamwo County. It is true Orom Sub-county was taken to Lamwo but for a different reason. The 1980 elections were not based on counties but population quarters. We had Kitgum North Constituency, Kitgum Central, Kitgum East and Kitgum South.

Kitgum North had a very small population compared to Kitgum Central. Orom had, therefore, to be moved from Central to North to increase the number of voters there. In any case, the DP voters could still have voted a DP candidate in Kitgum North to Parliament. They didn’t.

The Red Pepper of Monday, October 29, under the headline, ‘AMBUSHED’, reported the speeches made at the burial but deliberately left out the most important part of Otunnu’s speech on land and Mr Norbert Mao’s statement that what had a beginning would have an end, in reference to NRM.

Perhaps, what I found interesting was Mr Museveni’s easy acceptance of all the requests made to him. On giving jobs to the children of Atwoma, he said that his records on helping children of past leaders were very clear. He then went on to enumerate: “I had put the son of Benedicto Kiwanuka in Parliament but when he later lost election I made him Ambassador; the son of the late Tito Okello is here with you – you have just seen him speak; I put the son of Obote in Parliament and he is still there etc.’’

According to the Red Pepper “Museveni carefully avoided responding to any of Otunnu’s utterances...” Surely, Museveni is a political animal. He could not have risked attempting to react to Otunnu’s statements after seeing how, excitedly, the mourners applauded Otunnu. He had no choice but to excuse himself that he was not there for politics but to bury Atwoma. Atwoma spent more than half of his 87 years in politics.

Nothing better than politics could have been spoken at his burial. I shared many moments with Atwoma – some of them joyful others sad. I am sure he was very happy to hear politics being spoken at his burial.
Bye bye Mzee Atwoma. May your soul rest in eternal peace.
For God And My Country

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who is atwoma?

Atwoma was born on May 22, 1925 in Pajule in the then Acholi District. He had his education at St. Mary’s Primary School, Kitgum (1932-1939). He then moved to Lacor Seminary, Gulu (1940-1943). In 1944 he joined Primary Teacher Training School at Nyapea in the present Nebbi District. While there, he was conscripted into the Colonial Army and was taken to Kabete, Kenya, where he was trained and promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1945. He was poisoned and left the army.
Back home, he joined the Colonial Administration and served as Administrative Secretary for Karamoja Native Administration (1946-1947); Labour Officer in Northern, Eastern and Western Uganda (1948-1957). In 1958, he served as Finance Assistant and Chairman Acholi District Council before leaving to contest election for Legislative Council (Legico). He was unsuccessful. In 1959 he joined DP and later rose to become its Vice President. He represented Acholi District at the Lancaster House Conference in 1961.
He unsuccessfully contested parliamentary elections in 1980 and 1996, but was a Constituent Assembly (CA) Delegate for Chua in 1994-1995. In 1986, he led a good will mission to the bush to persuade Uganda Peoples Democratic Army (UPDA) to denounce war and return home. This adventure nearly cost him his life together with those of his three colleagues.