KAMPALA: Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has died, President Museveni has confirmed.
“Countrymen and Countrywomen. It is with a lot of sadness that I announce the death of the Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament,” he said on Sunday.
“I got information of this sad news at 10.30am, East African time from People that have been with him and the doctor that was caring for him in the intensive care unit. He was a good Cadre. I delayed the announcement so that his children would be informed first. May His soul rest in eternal peace,” he added.
20th March, 2022
Countrymen and Countrywomen.
It is with a lot of sadness that I announce the death of the Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament.— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) March 20, 2022
This comes a day after Deputy Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, who visited Oulanyah on his sick bed in the US city of Seattle, said the Speaker needed prayers.
Who is Jacob Oulanyah?
Oulanyah, whose name means winner, was born on March 23, 1965, in the Gulu district to Nathan L’okori and Karen Atwon in his grandmother’s grass-thatched house with a mud floor smeared with cow dung.
He went to Lalogi Primary School in Gulu and joined St Joseph’s College Layibi and Kololo Senior Secondary School for his O’ and A’level education, respectively.
In 1991, Oulanyah graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics. That same year, he entered law school, also at Makerere University, graduating in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in law.
At university, he served as Speaker of the University Students’ Guild before lecturing there. While a student leader at the university, he participated in the famous student walk to Parliament to petition the Speaker on a cocktail of issues hurting students then. In that peaceful procession, one student was shot.
In 1995, he joined the Law Development Centre (LDC), where he obtained a postgraduate diploma in legal practice. Following his graduation from the LDC, Oulanyah worked as a lecturer at the centre. At the same time, he began private law practise at the law firm of Oulanyah, Onoria & Company Advocates.
In 2001, He joined national politics in 2001 on the UPC ticket as MP for Omoro County, and since then, his journey has been a cocktail of controversy and good deeds.
In 2005, he chaired the legal and parliamentary affairs committee that was in charge of the Constitutional Amendment Bill, which wanted to change the rules about how many terms a president could serve.
He also participated in the peace talks between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. In 2006, standing as a UPC candidate, he lost his re-election bid. In July 2006, he quit the UPC and joined NRM.
In 2008, he served as the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the controversial sub-lease of Kisekka Market, one of the municipal markets in the capital, Kampala.
In March 2011, Oulanyah was elected to represent Omoro County in the Ninth Parliament, this time on the NRM ticket.
He was elected as Deputy Speaker of Parliament on May 19, 2011.
After the February 2016 general election, Oulanyah was re-elected as Deputy Speaker of Parliament on May 19, 2016. In the vote conducted by secret ballot, he received 300 votes, while Muhammad Nsereko received 115.
In July 2019, Oulanyah was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by Zoe Life Theological College USA and acquired the title Doctor, enabling him to be called Rt. Hon. Dr. Jacob L. Oulanyah.
In August 2020, Oulanyah joined CEC for the first time as vice-chairperson for the northern region.
On May 24, 2021, Jacob Oulanyah was voted Speaker of Parliament in a race against his former boss, Kadaga and Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju.