{UAH} Killing of Langi forced Odur out

Killing of Langi forced Odur out

Dr Odur says when Amin's regime started killing Langi in the civil service in 1977, he decided to go to exile. Photo by Henry Lubega 

The 1971 coup found me in America doing my post graduate studies. I had worked for only two years in the government service after graduating from Kabete Veterinary School in Kenya.

On completing my studies in America, I decided to come back home, especially because of family attachment.

A few months after the coup, I came back home, only to find that one of my brothers, Tonny Ocen, who was training to become a military pilot, had been arrested and imprisoned at Luzira by the new regime.
He was among the first victims of president Idi Amin when he was getting rid of the Langi in the army. Before I could visit him in Luzira, he was transferred to Mutukula government prison.
He was killed with several other prisoners in September 1971 during a failed military attempt by some Ugandans to come back to Uganda through Tanzania. His body was never recovered.

Following that incident, I had to keep a low profile at the Ministry of Animal Industry where I was working.
I was deployed in Fort Portal as the regional veterinary officer in charge of western region based in Kabarole, but shortly after I was recalled to head the ranching scheme. This was one of the projects that was being funded by the UN to improve agricultural production in Uganda.

In February 1977, things drastically changed, and I had to think about my safety and that of my young family. First, was the arrest and subsequent murder of my brother-in-law minister Erinayo Wilson Oryema who was the minister of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning.
One Saturday morning, shortly after his murder, a military officer visited my residence in Bugolobi.

I was still in bed and my wife was in the kitchen, she rushed and tipped me off. I went through the front door in my pajamas and hid in the nearby bush for about an hour. When I came back, my wife told me the army officer thought our house was vacant and wanted to take it. That is when I decided to leave.

Planning the exit
I transferred most of my household property to the village, and remained with a few things not to give ourselves away. When my cousin, who had taken my property to the village, got home, my parents thought I was dead.
With the property taken to safety, I had to find relatives to look after my family while I was away. With that taken care of, I had to find a way of leaving the country.

I used the guise of my project in the ministry to escape. I got permission to travel to Tororo Cement Industry to check out our position in regards to the supply we wanted from the factory. And I was officially released from office and I even went with the official car and driver from Kampala to Tororo.

I left Kampala with my brother, a cousin and one other person I picked from Kibimba. When we got to Tororo, we went to Rock Hotel for a night, save for the driver. All the four of us slept in the same room and used the room furniture to barricade the door. The next morning, we drove back to Busia. Reason being that whoever may have seen us in Tororo would have expected us to continue to Malaba and not coming back to Busia. So the return to Busia was diversionary.

At the border, I moved with my brother and cousin and to cross, I told the security personnel at the border that we were crossing to buy some things at the Busia market on the Kenyan side.
We stayed around the trading centre until about 4pm when I boarded a bus to Nairobi. My cousin and brother would then cross back to Uganda.

Life in Exile
I had not informed anybody in Nairobi that I was coming, although I had a couple of friends I had made during my studies in the early 60's. The next day, I looked for the refugee camp in Nairobi to register so that I can get some assistance. Unfortunately, I never got the help from the camp so I stayed put in the hotel for some time.

While there, I used my connections I had made in the students union while at Kabete College to look for employment. Fortunately, within one month, I got a job with a pharmaceutical company as a consultant for a veterinary drug that was being introduced on the market.
Two month after settling in my new job, my family joined me in Kenya. At first, we all stayed in the hotel, but when the company decided to take me on as a full-time employee, I moved out of the hotel and got a house in Nairobi West.

By virtue of my schedule, I never had time to get involved in exile politics, although in the evenings, I would get news from fellow Ugandans at social places.
In 1979, things started warming up. After the fall of Amin and the overthrow of Yusuf Kironde Lule, I decided to come and check what was happening back home.
By that time, Godfrey Binaisa was the president and I had several friends within the National Consultative Council which was the country's parliament then. They persuaded me to come for the visit, saying there were jobs in Uganda and I did not need to stay in exile.

James Obua Otoa, then a minister, asked if I would like to join the president during his tour of northern Uganda. I was also advised to come back home before I could be proposed for a ministerial post.
For Uganda Peoples Congress members who were proposed for any post, they had to be cleared by the party president [Milton Obote] who was still in exile.

I came and joined the president's convoy touring the North. But the situation had not yet improved to the extent that even in the hotels there was never enough food. Security was still a problem as gunmen brandished guns wherever.
At one incident while in Kitgum, we used to share a room among three people. But one night we stayed out late and when we went to rest, our colleague pulled a gun to shoot at us when we knocked. He was security conscious.

It is during this time that I was able to go and check on my parents. However, they were in bad shape and it was at this point that I decided to come back home, not because of the job offers.

Life after return

Early in 1981, I left my family in Nairobi and came back to Uganda. Life was a bit difficult at the start, but the ministry of Animal Husbandry took me back this time as a senior veterinary officer.
In the same year, I was appointed the General Manager of Diary Corporation, with this appointment life also changed. Although life seemed to have got back to normal, the instability was a threat.

If you were not an insider, you would think that things are normal.
The death of Oyite-Ojok on December 2, 1983, exacerbated the already fragile situation, leading to the 1985 coup. Fortunately, at this time, I was not in the country. I was on official duties in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, negotiating a loan for the Diary Corporation from the African Development Bank.

From there, I took caution by not flying direct to Entebbe. I first went to Nairobi for two weeks as I studied the situation back home. I contacted some friends in the army who assured me that all was fine; they even sent an army officer to meet me at the airport.
I continued as the General Manager Dairy Corporation until 1987 when I was rudely dismissed by the then Permanent Secretary Ministry of Animal Husbandry Nathan Massaba. The letter was delivered to my office while I was in India on official duties with Food and Agriculture Organisation expert to study India's diary industry.
I was not very surprised about the directive as there was already a system of having cadres in different institutions and I knew there was a young veterinarian man who was eyeing the job thinking it was meant for a veterinarian. Unfortunately, when I left, the cadre didn't get the job. It was given to another vet from Mbarara.
From Dairy Corporation, I went into private business until 1993 when I contested for the Constituency Assembly, representing Dokolo County, Lira District.

During my time in the CA, Local Government minister Bidandi Ssali told me they were looking for someone to head the local government service commission. I accepted the offer and served until 2003.
In 2005, I and others walked out of UPC and that is how I ended up being a vice chairman of People's Progressive Party from 2007 until now.

ABOUT DR ODUR
Dr Dick Odur is a veterinary doctor who joined government service in 1967 as a veterinary officer until going into exile in 1977.
Currently, Dr Odur is the vice Chairman of Progressive People's Party.

He was an ordinary civil servant whose life changed with the coming of Idi Amin to power in 1971, forcing him into exile six years later.

During the 1994 Constituency Assembly elections, he was sent to the CA to represent Dokolo County in Lira District.
The former UPC cadre had also worked under President Museveni's government as the head of the local government service commission until 2003.

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H.OGWAPITI
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