Retired commissioner Otim succumbs to cancer

Retired commissioner for Children Affairs in the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Willie Otim Iowe, is dead.     

A family member confirmed that Otim, 73, succumbed to cancer on Monday at International Hospital Kampala (IHK). 

Mr Kenneth Olet, a nephew to the deceased who is chairing burial arrangements, said that Otim will be buried at his ancestral home in Lira on Saturday.

"The deceased will be laid to rest on Saturday at Ober Kampala, in the heart of Lira City; prayers will start at 10am, and will be held in strict adherence to the standard operating procedures (SoPs) that were put in place by the Ministry of Health to combat the spread of Covid-19," he said.

The father of six retired from civil service in October 2010. Towards the end of 2012, he started experiencing problems with his urinal system, Otim told Daily Monitor in 2018 in an interview.

Otim said that even after urinating, he still felt that he needed to urinate despite no urine coming forth.

"At first, I thought it was a urinary tract infection and immediately started visiting a number of clinics in Lira Town for treatment.
Unfortunately, none of them was able to diagnose the disease as cancer and because I was living with diabetes, I pegged the frequent urination to the disease,” he said.

Diagnosis
However, despite religiously taking his diabetes medication, the situation did not change at all. In fact, his health deteriorated until he decided to travel to Kampala for treatment. He first visited International Hospital Kampala (IHK) and specifically told them he wanted to see the hospital urologist.

He was referred to Dr Frank Asiimwe, a urologist, who thoroughly examined him and suspected that he could be having prostate cancer, but needed confirmation by carrying out other tests.

One of the tests was checking for Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a substance produced by the prostate gland.

Elevated PSA levels may indicate prostate cancer, a noncancerous condition such as prostatitis, or an enlarged prostate.

“My PSA level was found to be at 11.8 which is way above the normal level of a person free from prostate cancer. The MRI scan also confirmed that I had prostate cancer,” Otim revealed.

During a requiem mass held at St Stephen Church of Uganda, Kisugu on Thursday, Otim was eulogized as a hardworking man and disciplinarian father.

Ms Carol Awor, a daughter to the deceased, advised mourners to take breast and prostate cancer tests more often to be able to detect danger when it is still early.

At his home in Lira, where the body arrived later in the evening, it was a sombre mood as locals gathered to pay their last respects to a man who had been endeared to many, both the young and old.

About Otim

He was born on September 13, 1947, attended Sir Samuel Baker SS for O'Level, Teso College Aloet for A'level, MUK for SWSA, Uganda Management Institute (UMI) for a Masters of Arts in Public Administration, Howard University in Washington DC for a postgraduate course

Joined the Ministry of Culture and Community Development (currently MGLSD) in 1974 as Probation Officer and rose through the ranks to become Commissioner for Children Affairs until he retired in 2009 after 37 years in civil service.

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