Police promise to deliver update on Oulanyah poison claims

The Uganda Police Force has vowed to “give an update at the right time” on renewed poisoning claims by the father of departed Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah.

The development comes hot on the heels of the burial in Lalogi, Omoro District, yesterday where the deceased’s father —Mr Nathan Okori—reignited the alternative conversation that his son did not die of natural causes but was in fact poisoned.

Mr Okori, who did not name names, said the poison affected his son’s health and by the time he was flown out of the country for treatment, it was too late to save his life.

“…Jacob Oulanyah was poisoned. He told me. And he was operated on, doctors attempted to deal with the poison. The poison affected his health so badly…he was not in a position to recover. He was too weak,” Mr Okori said.

READ: Jacob Oulanyah: How the organ failures developed

The statement attracted loud cheers and applause from a section of mourners.  

Sources privy to the burial processes had on Friday evening intimated to Saturday Monitor that Mr Okori had not been included on the list of speakers during his son’s burial due to his fragile state, both emotionally and health wise. It is not known why and when the programme was adjusted.

Mr Okori first made the poisoning claims a day after his son was announced dead.
 “I know all of you who have come here are mourners. His (Oulanyah’s) death is not easy news to welcome because I know he did not die of natural causes, he was poisoned,” Mr Okori told a handful of mourners at their ancestral home in Omoro District then.

Following Mr Okori’s claims, President Museveni directed the police to investigate Ugandans who made claims that the former NRM vice chairperson for northern region had been poisoned. According to him, this was taking advantage of problems for cheap politics.

“…And actually we’re going to go for them because I have heard some people saying some people killed Oulanyah. The police will come and ask you to give them some information because Oulanyah did not die in a private home,” Mr Museveni said shortly after watching Anita Among elected the Speaker of Parliament.

READ: Inside Oulanyah’s battle with cancer

The President added: “He died in a highly reputable hospital and before that he was in another big hospital in Dubai…and before that, he was in our hospitals here, including the cancer institute. Everything is there. I did not know that Oulanyah was sick until he went to Dubai. He went with our doctors. That’s when I checked and I knew what the problems were.” 

He further said: “Police are going to come and ask you to tell us because you seem to have information. We cannot go on with this indiscipline. It’s not constructive at all, especially from some people who are educated and claim to be leaders.”

The police, heeding the President’s directive, said investigations would commence as soon as the former Speaker was laid to rest, adding that they were scrutinising footage and statements made in that line.  

After the burial yesterday, Saturday Monitor reached out to Mr Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, to establish the status of investigations, and whether Mr Okori would be questioned about the repeated claims.  “I cannot comment on that right now. We have just finished a burial. We shall give an update at the right time. When we have just finished a burial, that is not being sensitive enough,” Mr Enanga said.

The former Omoro County Member of Parliament was announced dead on March 20. He had been admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, US, where he had spent nearly two months being stabilised.

READ: EC declares Omoro County seat vacant

Mr Okori’s renewed poisoning claims came just days after Health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, and Dr Jackson Orem, the executive director Uganda Cancer Institute, made public the post-mortem report, spotlighting multiple organ failure as the immediate cause of death.  The medics also revealed that Oulanyah had  been battling  lymphoma cancer.