Prime
The Jacob Oulanyah I Knew
Raymond Mujuni
What you need to know:
I was 17 years old when first, I met Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah. I’d come through school as an ardent debater and fielded for my school at the National Schools Debate Championships, by a stroke of good luck and potent competition, I was selected as part of a team from the best debaters at that tournament to debate a set of legislators on our visit to parliament
Public figures take on multiple eulogies. This is mostly because they affect people differently, with each decision they reward or punish sections of their admirers and tormentors – but such is the nature of public office. I was 17 years old when first, I met Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah. I’d come through school as an ardent debater and fielded for my school at the National Schools Debate Championships, by a stroke of good luck and potent competition, I was selected as part of a team from the best debaters at that tournament to debate a set of legislators on our visit to parliament.
Jacob Oulanyah, the deputy speaker then, despite his very busy schedule opted to lead the parliament team and for about an hour of that day, we tussled it out to the motion; This House Will Reduce The Number Of Legislators. He was a good sport in debate and he demarcated his arguments well, often lacing them with verbal jabs. One that still stands out, when a member of our team said ‘the only smart thing he had said that day was he loves bow-ties’, he responded and I hope I still quote him right; “I said I love bow-ties and I should add, people that I can confidently educate”. The room burst into laughter before he continued to slice and dice our case apart.
That he made time for teenagers in school and that he stayed to debate us for over an hour was a great mark of humility. But that he was also capable of debating us with civility and honour was a great mark he made on me.
Years on, Jacob Oulanyah through consistent interviews became a good source for me. He valued the role accurate information played in a democracy and often gave me crucial information which he thought would aid our understanding of processes in parliament and at the NRM Central Executive Committee. I teased him a lot during his charge for the Speaker’s chair often asking him what his retirement plan would be should Kadaga defeat him and he remained unbowed insisting he would win the election by morning.
Jacob offered me his last known public interview. I had begged him for months to appear on our flagship show; ON THE SPOT and he’d turned down the invitation many times till he agreed to a thirty minutes interview a few days to the election.
We spoke at length in that interview and he spoke candidly about what he thought of the state of affairs, he condemned parliament absenteeism, he criticized his own house on how slow they were in handling parliament business, he told me, on air, of the times he’d been called by the President about matters in parliament, he spoke brazenly about corruption so much so that I teased him that he spoke as a leader of opposition!
Jacob Oulanyah was a rare breed of politician. He majored in majors and minored in minors. He’d told me that his retirement plan included a career in comedy, forestry and boxing. He was extremely well read; from poetry, to literature classics and even on political economy – you can bet he would hold fort. His caliber is part of a dying breed in our political class.
There are many ways, in the coming days, that people will remember him but for me, he was a news source, an extremely humorous man, an avid debater and a versatile leader – these are not compliments I would easily ascribe to any member of our political class.
