{UAH} Oooops...! Turns out Oulanyah is not Acholi after all. Interesting. Keep it up Otto.
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Uganda: Speaker, Otto Row Deepens
BY SADAB KITATTA KAAYA, 5 DECEMBER 2013According to our sources in Gulu, at least eight Acholi religious leaders met at the Ker Kwaro Acholi (Acholi paramount chief) Rwot David Onen Achana II's residence last weekend.
The leaders were on a mission to reconcile sons of the soil Oulanyah and Otto who have been tearing at each other for some time now.
Led by Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Gulu archdiocese, the group also had Bishop Johnson Gakumba (Diocese of Northern Uganda), retired Bishop Macleod Baker Ochola (Kitgum diocese) and retired Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng (Diocese of Northern Uganda).
Others included Sheikh Musa Khalil (Gulu district Kadhi), Pastor Patrick Savimbi Komakech (SDA church) and Rev Fr Julius Orach dean of the Orthodox Church in Acholi sub-region.
The day's agenda was limited to three outstanding feuds amongst Acholi Parliamentary Group members; Oulanyah and Otto, Lamwo Woman MP Sarah Lanyero Ochieng and Disaster Preparedness Minister Hilary Onek, and Aswa MP Reagan Okumu and Gulu Municipality MP Christopher Acire.
Oulanyah - Otto:
A source familiar with the meeting said the Oulanyah vs Otto feud took centre stage. Some religious leaders, this source said, urged Otto to stop his political campaigns in Oulanyah's constituency.
Back in August, Otto, who had announced that he would retire from active politics at the end of his current term as Aruu MP, said he would now take on Oulanyah in his Omoro county to settle a political score. This was moments after the deputy speaker suspended Otto alongside MPs Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kyadondo East), Angeline Osegge (Soroti Woman) and Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) from parliament for three consecutive sittings.
It was punishment for the quartet's alleged misconduct during the controversial debate on the Public Order Management Bill that was passed into law the following day. Otto has since spent time campaigning in Omoro and Oulanyah hoped the religious leaders would dissuade him from his plans.
At the meeting, Oulanyah is said to have spoken of his friendship with Otto and how he had helped the Aruu MP over time, including seconding him for a foreign trip. He then prayed that the two old friends make up because "to error is only human."
In response, we have been told, an angry Otto even declined a handshake from Oulanyah whom he described as a disgrace to the Acholi. Otto also spoke of his old friendship with Oulanyah and how he contributed generously to the deputy speaker's victory party.
He added that he had advised Oulanyah against supporting the approval of Gen Aronda Nyakayirima as minister of Internal Affairs before resigning from the army.
Tribal politics:
As the meeting got heated, some MPs accused Oulanyah of denying his Langi roots. They said Oulanyah claims to be an Acholi but acts in a manner that disparages the Acholi. Otto claimed that at Makerere University, Oulanyah had been a member of the executive committee of the Lango Students Association.
Omoro county is at the border between Gulu (Acholi) and Oyam (Lango) districts. According to the 2011 voters' register issued by the Electoral Commission, the constituency has 63,589 voters, of whom about 30 per cent are said to be Langi.
We have been told that Bishop Onono-Onweng tried to restrain the MPs from raising tribal issues, citing the example of Archbishop Odama, who is not an Acholi but an Alur from Nebbi. But some MPs were unrelenting, especially Otto.
"We were courteous enough and allowed him to represent one of the Acholi constituencies but he is abusing the courtesy," Otto reportedly said.
Interviewed separately for this story on Wednesday, Otto said:
"Three of the sub-counties in Aruu are [dominated by] the Langi, and we are not discriminating against them. During the war, the Acholi ran to Lango, so the issue of tribal discrimination does not arise. It is Oulanyah causing these tensions," he said.
One MP then cited the October 2 forceful eviction of Kyadondo East MP Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda from parliament at the urging of Oulanyah as one incident that could heighten tribal tensions between Acholi and Baganda.
At this point, Bishop Gakumba knelt down and prayed that Otto changes his hard-line stance.
Otto told the kneeling bishop that his decision to unseat Oulanyah in Omoro was "irreversible."
Oulanyah couldn't be reached for a comment today. His political assistant said the deputy speaker was away in Sudan. After the bishops failed to tame Otto, the Gulu district Kadhi Sheikh Musa Khalil gave it a try. He asked Otto whether five bishops and a sheikh before him were not enough to trigger a change of heart.
In response, Otto said: "Not even in the presence of 10 bishops will I ever have a handshake with someone who has been belligerent to MPs. For instance, Hon Ssemujju was manhandled in parliament at the full superintendent of Oulanyah. He should not call himself a speaker," Otto charged.
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