As the country awaits the official burial arrangements for the deceased Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, who died yesterday in Seattle, USA, let’s recall Oulanyah’s 9 months and 24 days as Speaker of Parliament.
Oulanyah was voted into office on May 24, 2021, after defeating Kadaga, who had been a speaker since 2011. He won with 310 votes to Kadaga’s 197.
“I am not anybody’s yes man. I have a brain that functions very well. I am able to see what is right and what is not right. I have three principles; Is it okay with God, is it okay with the law; when I take that decision, will I sleep well?” said Oulanyah after winning the speakership race.
On his first day at Parliament, Oulanyah arrived at parliament donning a suit and a bow tie. He toured all departments of the August house and promised to foster unity as a key to serving the country.
Speaking after the tour, Oulanyah said some people could have said what they should not have said during the speaker race period but he was ready to put that aside.
He vowed to keep his door open to all legislators and administrators of Parliament. He disclosed that his mission during the 11th Parliament was to ensure that the common person’s views were heard and action taken to change the people’s welfare.
However, shortly after starting his work at parliament, his health battles began after just presiding over two sessions of Parliament.
Oulanyah went to the United Kingdom for over a month. There were reports that he had contracted COVID-19, and flown to the UK for treatment as the country was battling the second wave. Officially, however, he was stated to have been visiting one of his children.
Subsequently, most of Oulanyah’s duties were handled by Deputy Speaker Anita Among, fuelling further speculation about Oulanyah’s health.
In July 2021, Oulanyah, who had not been seen in public for nearly two months after his election as Speaker, dismissed reports that he had been ill.
The Speaker later returned to normal business at his Parliamentary office. However, three months later, he again disappeared from Parliament, once again leaving the parliamentary business to his deputy, Anita Among.
He last presided over Parliament on 21 December 2021.
Early in February, he was rushed from his home in Muyenga to Mulago National Referral Hospital and eventually flown out of the country via Iceland to Seattle, in the United States, for treatment of an unspecified illness.
An Airbus A330-800 was chartered from Uganda Airlines for the purpose, at a cost to the government of Shs1.7 billion. The amounts caused mixed reactions.
On 17 February 2022, Oulanyah tweeted and thanked Ugandans for their prayers and concern about his health.
“Fellow Ugandans, my deepest appreciation for your well-wishes and prayers; I wish you God’s blessings.”
Oulanyah has been bedridden in a hospital in Seattle for a month, and last week his close friends, Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, Democratic Party President General Norbert Mao, and Anita Among, visited him in the hospital.
They assured the public how the Speaker was responding well to medication. However, on Sunday afternoon, President Yoweri Museveni confirmed the news of his death. He died aged 56.