President Yoweri Museveni has made a glowing tribute to the fallen Speaker of Parlament Jacob L’okori Oulanyah-describing him a great cadre of the NRM party that employed his oratory and unifying attributes for the benefit of the country.
“Oulanyah was young but had already made impact. As NRM, we started dealing with him when he was the chairperson of the Parliamentary legal committee although he was still in UPC, but we noticed him and saw that he had potential,” President Museveni who was the chief mourners at a state funeral held in honour of the late Oulanyah , stated. The occasion was held at the Kololo independence grounds before the body was airlifted in a military helicopter to his home district Omoro in Northern Uganda. Oulanyah passed on at the age of 57 and will be buried on Friday April8th,20222.
“He broke away from sectarian politics of opposition and made good contribution to the country. When we supported Oulanyah to take up the duties of Deputy Speaker, he took that time to multiply his talents. Losing him was a big loss because he was coming up and the country was going to benefit from him.”
Museveni said that as early as 1966, there were problems of divisions in the country and specifically in Northern Uganda that he said many governments failed to solve but Oulanyah helped to bring about unity elected the NRM vice chairperson for Northern Uganda last year.“He had already done good job in uniting northern Uganda. It had been messed up by bad politics. When he became vice chairperson, in short time he had deepened unity. I need to salute Oulanyah and commend him as an example.”
“I don’t want to hear talk of northern. He was not speaker of north but Uganda. When you hear opportunists talking of northern Uganda, tell them to shut up. NRM supported him not because he was this or that but because was good cadre. He would never have won if NRM didn’t support him. Ugandans supported him because of his patriotism and pan Africanism and not because of his clan.”
Uganda will miss Oulanyah
Museveni said Oulanyah used his talents very well and that his death is a big loss to the country. “He used his talents well. He was a good orator .He was hardworking. When we identified and supported him to take responsibility as deputy speaker used that time to multiply his talent. Losing Oulanyah now is a big loss. He was somebody who was coming up and the country was going to get a lot of benefits from him.”
The Speaker of parliament, Anita Among said thus ; ““For us that had an opportunity of working with Oulanyah, he was a man of many attributes. Full of humor, energy, and zeal. He executed his duties with utmost diligence and dedication. We shall greatly miss Rt Hon Jacob,” Among said. She announced that parliament had resolved that every March 23, which is Oulanyah’s birthday will be honoured as the Jacob Oulanyah memorial lecture day -in honour and remembrance of the fallen hero.
