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Oulanyah’s body expected by weekend
Deceased: Speaker Jacob Oulanyah. PHOTO | ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- President Museveni on Sunday announced in a tweet that Oulanyah had passed on. He, however, did not specify when he died or what caused his death, two touchy issues that have been a subject of speculation in the past week.
The body of the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, will be flown into the country at the weekend, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Oryem Okello has said.
“Our ambassador in Washington has gone to Seattle to start the process of clearance of the body to be repatriated to Uganda. It requires the participation of the family because this is the body of their father and they have to sign relevant documents,” minister Oryem said by telephone last evening.
He added: “We are trying to target the body to be here latest by the weekend. The burial will likely be the following week but this will be determined later.”
President Museveni on Sunday announced in a tweet that Oulanyah had passed on. He, however, did not specify when he died or what caused his death, two touchy issues that have been a subject of speculation in the past week.
Speaking to a local media house, Radio Mighty, in the Acholi Sub-region yesterday, Mr Oryem linked the death of Oulanyah to kidney failure.
He said the Speaker was largely unconscious when the team of government officials visited last week.
“Chief Justice Owiny-Odollo told me that when he went there with the deputy Speaker, Oulanyah was not able to open his eyes and he couldn’t talk. But he could hear what people were saying,” the minister said.
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Mr Oryem added: “He [Owiny-Dollo] said he kept saying words to encourage him [Oulanyah] and prayed with him and gave him messages from home. But he said when he sat down, he [Oulanyah] said only one word “Chigamoi,” and he never uttered any other word.”
Medication
Mr Oryem said the doctor at Seattle said they had tried everything in vain.
“They have tried medication and put him under machines but unfortunately he was not responding to treatment. It started with organ failures, his kidney failed. [Then] the doctor put him on life support, so in the evening they told him [Chief Justice] his brother [Oulanyah] had died,” he told Acholi people, the area where Oulanyah hails from.
He added: “I pray for one thing that all Acholi people should desist from doing bad things because of Oulanyah’s death. Let’s mourn him with respect and within the law; and let’s do what he would commend if he were alive. I pray his soul should rest in eternal peace.”
Meanwhile, the father of the Speaker, Mr Nathan Okori, said his son didn’t die of a natural cause but was “poisoned.”
But the government minister and spokesperson, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, dismissed poisoning allegations.
He said: “Ignore that information. The post-mortem report will be released and the government will give out a statement.”
Information from healthline.com indicates that acute kidney failure can occur for many reasons such as “acute tubular necrosis [lack of blood and oxygen], severe or sudden dehydration, toxic kidney injury from poisons or certain medications, autoimmune kidney diseases and urinary tract obstruction.”
