Why Engola’s murder has angered the Langi

As the country ponders the shocking murder of  Charles Engola on May 2, in Kampala by a soldier, the bereaved people of Lango are once again pondering their place in the Republic of Uganda. In Lango, the loss of Hon Engola is comparable to that of Maj Gen David Oyite Ojok in 1983 and Milton Obote 2005.

The Langi, inhabiting the land north of Lake Kyoga and parts of the White Nile now number an estimated three million people.

In the past half a century,  Lango gave to Uganda and the world, national and international figures like ‘Field Marshal’ John Okello, President Milton Obote, Maj Gen David Oyite Ojok, John Akii Bua and many other world class scientists, inventors, diplomats and professionals in every field of endeavour.

I can confidently say that where a Lango man or woman is in charge, whether in government, institution or corporation, things have always tended to go well for all those they supervise. There is an inherent trait of justice, fairness, equity and forthrightness and competence to deliver, that most Langi in positions of authority carry. Hon Engola carried this trait as well.

I will now cut to the chase. The Langi are very angry about the senseless murder of one of our own. A military man and community leader of legendary status.

It happened because of the negligence by government officials involved in assigning to the deceased minister’s security detail, a soldier of clearly questionable reputation and mental health. This tragedy was avoidable.

Because of this official negligence - it will now be hard for anyone, even the most accomplished of government apologists, to convince the people of Lango that the government has the best interest of Langi and the people of northern Uganda, at heart.

Ironically, it was Hon Engola, alongside his brother Hon Sam Engola, who were at the forefront of persuading a highly skeptical Langi people to support President Museveni and the NRM Party in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Their efforts, and that of others, like Ambassador Julius Moto, Bishop Melchizedek Otim, Rev Ongora Atwai, Ojede Obar and more, eventually paid off in the 2000s. Langi had come to respect President Museveni as a  man who could deliver on security and stability by defeating insurgencies that affected northern Uganda – giving the people  a conducive environment to  work their shambas and live in peace.

Hon Engola , like his brother Sam were an important link who articulated the peoples interest to a seemingly indifferent NRM government. Hon Engola will be remembered as the military commander who brought the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda to an end.

The Langi, who had suffered violence from 1971- 79, then resting briefly from 1980-85, when Obote was president, were again on the receiving end of violence from insurgents, and some believe even from the state, from 1986 well into the early 2000s.

These, put together with the loss of hundreds of thousands of herds of cattle, valued in millions of dollars -to highly organised, coordinated and deadly armed cattle robbers, from 1986 to the early 1990s, was enough to break the back of Langi and relegate a people to abject poverty - but it did not.

The Langi people picked the remaining pieces and began hustling afresh. We let go of the past and all its vendetta. Then we embraced the NRM government to work with it whole heartedly.

I am afraid however that the combined efforts of the men and women who persuaded Langi to accept the NRM may have been erased by the death of  Engola.

Mr Joe Nam is a societal commentator.