Nine eye Oyam North seat as Queen Amolo shifts goalpost

Nine people are eyeing the Oyam North parliament seat which fell vacant after Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola Macodwogo’s death, with seven eying the National Resistance Movement (NRM) flag.
The State minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations was killed by his bodyguard, Wilson Sabiti, on May 2, 2023 who in turn also turned the gun to himself and died.
The by-election for Oyam North County which is slated for July 6, 2023 will cost Shs 900 million, according to the Electoral Commission (EC).
Interestingly, during Okello Engola’s burial at Awangi Village, Iceme Sub-county in Oyam District on May 13, Mr Tony Ayo (Kwania MP), also the chief whip of all National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs from Lango, presented the deceased’s eldest son Samuel Okello Engola Junior as his possible replacement in the forthcoming by-election.
The late minister Macodwogo was also serving a second term as the Oyam North County MP on the NRM ticket.
Now, Engola Junior is battling to become NRM flagbearer together with six other candidates.
Ms Queen Dorothy Amolo, a US-based investor who executed several development partnerships with the late minister Engola, has abandoned Oyam South where she lost the seat to Gender minister Betty Amongi in 2021 and has now shifted to Oyam North.
Just like six other contenders, Ms Amolo is eying the NRM flag. 
Others also eying the NRM flag are Richard Obangakene, Ambassador emeritus Julius Peter Moto, Willy Omodo Omodo, Samuel Junior Engola and Alfred Okello Obaro and Billie Otoo.
However, the lucky person to be elected NRM flag bearer will face off with Dr Eunice Apio Otuku of the opposition Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party.
Dr Apio Otuku, who was widely backed by the Gender minister Amongi in 2021, hails from Otwal Sub-County.
In 2021, then NRM’s candidate Okello Engola Macodwogo retained the Oyam North seat after garnering 22,895 votes, beating four others.
UPC’s Apio Otuku polled 17,114 votes; Krispus Ayena Odongo (Ind) managed 8, 498 votes, Henry Oboke Edonga and Nam Joe, all Independents polled 175 votes and 140 votes respectively.
Counsel Ayena, who is also contesting again, pulled out of UPC primaries last week, prompting UPC secretariat to declare Dr Apio Otuku as their flagbearer.
Mr Ayena, the former lead counsel of jailed ex-Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen, said he was opting for “Plan B”, without divulging details.
What they say
Mr Billie Otto, a journalist and also the Oyam LC5 councilor, confirmed that he is in the race for the Oyam North seat. 
“I am contesting on an NRM ticket, and right now I am in the field,” he told the Monitor on Monday.
On May 14, Mr Moto, an economist with a Master's Degree in Business Administration, declared his intention to succeed Okello Engola.
The 56-year-old Moto, who worked for 32 years – uninterrupted service to humanity – in Uganda and around the world, said he can change things around.
“I am a good researcher and a good debater. So, I think I’m a suitable candidate for the people of Oyam North. I think the people of Oyam North are going to get quality material sent to Parliament to continue the work of Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola Macodwogo who passed away two weeks ago,” Mr Moto said.
When he was reminded that his friend’s family endorsed their son as successor, Mr Moto said Engola’s family does not represent the interests of the people of Oyam North.
“That’s why I’ve come to offer my candidature just in case they don’t find Junior Engola suitable for them. Given my background, I’m going to focus mainly on economic infrastructure,” Mr Moto, who joined NRM in December 2010 after crossing from UPC at a rally at Otwal Primary School, Oyam District,  said.
He further explained that his political ambition did not start following the death of Okello Engola but way back in 2002. 
Mr Omodo Omodo, the former NRM youth vice chairperson for northern Uganda, said: “In the interest of the local community, I am also contesting. This is because in the last election of 2021 I contested with the late during the NRM primaries but somehow my votes were grabbed.”
Mr Okello Obaro, the LC3 chairman of Iceme Town Council, observed that Macodwogo was first elected LC5 chairman at the time when Oyam was facing a lot of challenges.
“It is unfortunate he passed on, which has affected the people of Oyam so much and the community of the district loved him so much. However, the law says the position has to be filled for the continuity of work, and I am here to fill that vacant position,” he said.
Mr Tonny Ongar, the personal assistant to Ms Queen Dorothy Amolo, said due to public demand, his boss would continue from where the deceased minister stopped “because she has the capacity to develop Oyam North.”
In fact, a day after Okello Engola was murdered, Ms Amolo told this publication that her friend’s death had crippled the development plan they had for the people of Oyam District.
"We had just concluded a partnership to bring a radio station to the people of northern Uganda and several pieces of equipment for the community hospital that he founded in Oyam North—a plan we set in motion months ago," she said.
Voters cautioned
Mr Isha Otto Amiza, former Oyam South MP urged voters to look for a competent, well experienced and more so a local, national, international holder who can carry forward the legacy of the people of Oyam.
“Our politics is not about local politics in Lango and villages around. Our politics in Oyam is about reputation at national and international grade, and that should be maintained,” Mr Otto said, further asking people to deviate from “this new mentality of hereditary politics where when my father dies, I automatically become a leader.”
According to Mr Otto, experience has also shown that those people who come in position by fact of succeeding their father merely on sympathy have not performed.
“You all know. There is no record of any excellence performance of this kind of leader and that’s why I’m very much against it. If somebody is going to be elected in Parliament, it should be perfectly on the basis of quality, charisma and ability to perform in Parliament,” he stated.
“Today, our Parliament is one of the weakest you can think about in the region because you have dozens of such people in Parliament. I am very grateful to a young man like Dr Ayume, the son of the former speaker of Parliament who after 10 years, modeled himself, prepared himself, developed capacity and he is now one of the best performers in Parliament of Uganda but he is not there because he succeeded his father,” he further explained.