Former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah. PHOTO/FILE

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The desecration of Jacob Oulanyah

What you need to know:

  • The more than month-long spell of controversy started with the news that Speaker Oulanyah had been secretly airlifted to the United States on a chartered Uganda Airlines plane.

Former Parliament Speaker Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah was buried yesterday after two event-filled months that more than discredited the public profile he had carefully cultivated since first becoming a legislator in 2001. Oulanyah is now primed to be remembered more for the controversies surrounding his death than his contributions to the country.

Oulanyah passed away on March 20 at the University of Washington Medical Center, US, where he had been taken to receive specialised medical care.

The more than month-long spell of controversy started with the news that the departed Omoro County legislator—who assumed the coveted office of the Speaker of the Parliament last year—had been secretly airlifted to the United States on a chartered Uganda Airlines plane. The medevac was said to have cost the taxpayer more than $500,000 (Shs1.7billion).  

The government’s lacklustre messaging approach did not help calm the mood of a population that was grappling with skyrocketing commodity prices. The expenditure passed off as insensitive.  

Shortly after, a group of Ugandans in the US protested, accusing Oulanyah of being part of a government that has failed to provide its citizens decent healthcare. The Democratic Party president, Mr Norbert Mao, and later the Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and a section of leaders from Acholi, however, had a different interpretation.

Mr Mao caused a Twitter storm, insisting the protestors who he described as “petty radicals”   belonged to the National Unity Platform (NUP) political party. His accusation also had tribal undertones. 

“The same people who threw parties to celebrate the death of Gen Paul Lokech are the same ones wishing Speaker Jacob Oulanyah dead. Their likes refused Milton Obote’s dead body passage through Luwero to Akokoro for burial! They betrayed Ben Kiwanuka. There is no truth in them,” Mr Mao tweeted.

Addressing mourners at Oulanyah’s residence in Muyenga, Kampala, Mr Owiny-Dollo described as “super-evil” people in the diaspora for protesting against Oulanyah’s treatment in the US yet their “ethnic leader” was also transported in a presidential jet to Germany using public funds.

He said: “But you, who were demonstrating…your ethnic leader was transported in a presidential jet to Germany using public funds he was not entitled to. You did not demonstrate.”

The speech was immediately rebuked and a fact-check revealed that Kabaka Mutebi II—Buganda’s reigning monarch—had actually used a commercial airliner when he sought treatment in Germany.  CJ Owiny-Dollo has since apologised for the outburst.

Controversial budgets
Elsewhere, the handling of the budgets for Oulanyah’s send-off was such a profanation of his character. The whole process was laced with greed, opportunism and nativism. It is hard to imagine what will happen when the funds are subjected to an audit as has been promised. It is hard to sift through the truth and lies in the quest to understand the controversy surrounding the allocation of money to facilitate the send-off of the departed Speaker.

In a brief eulogy during a parliamentary sitting to pay tribute to the fallen Speaker, Kira Municipality legislator, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda summed up the scandalising of Oulanyah’s burial on what he said was a decision by President Museveni to appoint extremely ordinary people to key positions. 
Mr Ssemujju insisted—in his trademark abrasive style—that some appointees are overwhelmed by simple tasks like organising state funerals.

In sickness and death, Oulanyah may have carried another burden that he may or may not have contributed to. Again Mr Ssemujju summed it up.

“There are benefits of being NRM. You can be a Speaker or Prime Minister, but you must be ready to be judged for things you didn’t do,” he said.

The key figure here is Milly Babalanda, the minister in-charge of the Presidency and the chairperson of the national organising committee for Oulanyah’s burial. Her committee was responsible for a not well-thought out Shs2.5 billion budget that caused a public outcry. It is plausible that a bigger budget may not have even caused the outcry had the items on the same been easily justifiable.

On March 29, the junior Finance minister (General Duties), Henry Musasizi told legislators that the budget had been revised and brought down to Shs1.8b, saying that other unnecessary expenditures had been scrapped. 

The budget was further whittled down to Shs1.2b to the consternation of a section of lawmakers from northern Uganda who were earlier primed to split Shs312.9m for “unspecified operations.” 

“We can call people from northern Uganda to contribute [money] to bury the Speaker. We are here praising him, but down there [in Oulanyah’s village] we are doing another thing all together. That is our concern. And who has the right to reduce the budget approved by Parliament? Who has a right?” Mr Anthony Akol (Kilak North Country, FDC), the chairperson of Acholi Parliamentary Group, said.

There was also a quiet fight over control of the same budget, with opinion split over who of the Parliamentary Commission and the national organising committee should run point.

Basics like Bwola dancers lacking food and transport or being accommodated poorly also played out, shadowing the main show of mourning the fallen Speaker.

By the time Oulanyah’s body was airlifted from Kololo Independence Grounds to Omoro, renovation works at his unfinished mansion were ongoing. Again budgetary issues reared an ugly head with the local committee citing a shortage of tents, toilet facilities, and hygiene materials, among others. With more than a week to prepare, one wonders why such logistical issues weren’t dealt with. Even works on the road leading to the former Speaker’s home from Palenga junction through Lalogi (Omoro) town were handicapped by limited resources.

On March 24, parliamentarians from Oulanyah’s home region—where he also doubled as ruling NRM vice chairperson—the Greater North Parliamentary Forum of Acholi, Lango and West Nile met President Museveni. MP Gilbert Olanya (Kilak South) revealed that President Museveni had refused their demand to ring-fence the position of Speaker for the region. The MPs would threaten to boycott the election of the new Speaker if the NRM failed to choose one of them as a candidate for the position of speaker.

During Wednesday’s state funeral at Kololo, President Museveni had no kind words for the legislators. He expressed his contempt, calling the legislators “opportunists” looking for a pay day.

Foul play

The allegations that Oulanyah could have been poisoned—while hardly novel (the narrative is commonplace when a prominent person dies suddenly in this part of the world)—proved to be a spot of bother. The allegations gained prominence when Mr Nathan Okori claimed that his son did not die of natural causes and that in fact he was “poisoned”. This shifted the focus from mourning Oulanyah to speculation of what exactly could have happened. The conflicting statements on the status of his health by those who visited him in the US hospital did not help matters.

Information
The delegation to Seattle led by Mr Owiny-Dollo and then Deputy Speaker Anita Among was so economical with information to the point that speculations —including announcements of Oulanyah’s death—swirled on social media. On March 14, unknown persons, whom Parliament spokesperson Chris Obore later said were using Virtual Private Network (VPN) to conceal identity and location, updated Oulanyah’s profile on Wikipedia to reflect that he had died.

The Acholi Paramount Chief Rwot David Onen Acana II also demanded for answers about the rumours of the poisoning of Oulanyah and other Acholi people elevated to higher government positions.
“We cannot pretend that all is well with his death because we have more questions than answers about the death of Oulanyah and other sons of Acholi; why are our sons dying shortly after elevation in their position, is poisoning now an open method of elimination, who is behind, individuals or an organised entity?” Rwot Acana II said.

ABOUT THE BUDGET


 “We can call people from northern Uganda to contribute [money] to bury the Speaker. We are here praising him, but down there [in Oulanyah’s village] we are doing another thing all together. That is our concern. And who has the right to reduce the budget approved by Parliament? Who has a right?” Mr Anthony Akol (Kilak North Country, FDC), the chairperson of Acholi Parliamentary Group