
“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
The likes of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah is the kind that aim for the top and titles. He is the sort of strategically goes for the best position and bet. That’s why he was first elected as a Member of Parliament as a Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) in 2001. While after losing re-election in 2006. In the middle of that term he crossed over to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and never looked back.
“Hon. Jacob Oulanyah’s efforts to develop Uganda’s copyright are commendable. However, it is the writer’s opinion that copyright legislation reform should continue to be relevant to domestic objectives by reflecting social values of domestic policies. Its evolution should be adapted by lawmakers to promote present day social values and priorities. A chasm has emerged between copyright law and the social values about culture and it ought to be addressed” (ACODE Policy Briefing Paper No. 10, 2005).
In 2011 he got re-elected to Parliament in 2011 and gotten back to Parliament ever since. He was then elected as Deputy Speaker, which he was for 10 years. Where he severed the interests of the state and served diligently the will of the President. That’s why when he was re-elected in 2021 he became the Speaker of the 11th Parliament. Which he got by the loyalty he had shown to the NRM and the President over the years.
“There was a time in Uganda where people had no right of worship. Thanks to President Museveni and the NRM government that ushered in peace and security and promoting right of worship. Christians and all believers in this country should cling onto President Museveni because he protects their right to worship. Make President Museveni your spiritual hero for continued development in Uganda” – Jacob Oulanyah (Daily Monitor – ‘Museveni is like Jesus, says Oulanyah’ 24.08.2015).
People will write rosy words about the deceased speaker. It will be all humbling and kind. While he was living he was thriving on the demise of the opposition and the personification of the state. That’s why he was able to go from the an opposition MP in 2001 to the Speaker of Parliament in 2021. Therefore, the NRM will celebrate him and give him a State Funeral.
Oulanyah did what the state and what the President wanted him to do. He served them and was willing to do it at any cost. In his time he and Kadaga allowed Special Force Coammand to attack MPs within the Parliament. He allowed and let the Constitution be revised in 2005 and again 2017.
So, he played the games, which His Excellency wanted him to do. There should be no denying in this. They might say he was a man of integrity and honour, but he still allowed strangers to enter into the chambers. That’s why he accepted violence and harm of other citizens in the service of the state. This should be acknowledged and even if his gone. History will not be kind to this… Just like the day former IGP Kayihura dies. People will remember how he used police brutality and extra judicial killings to silence dissidents and opposition parties in the Republic.
In the same manner, we are now remembering Oulanyah. As he allowed the SFC and the President to violate the Parliament. Those dark days will forever linger, as well, as letting the Magyezi motion and amendment of the Constitution to allow the President to be for Life. The President are now living longer and staying in power beyond the men who let him stay there. That says it all…
However, in his maiden speech as Speaker in 2021 he did say this: “We should agree that no view will be suppressed. All views will be received with tolerance and given fair treatment based on known facts and reason. We must pledge to overrule intolerance” (Oulanyah, May 2021).
Instead of becoming the big-man and being the Speaker of Parliament. He was supposed to be prominent and a loyal cadre of the President this term. That’s why the President and the NRM wanted him there. They wouldn’t want to have a renegade or disloyal person on the throne. He would serve their interests and with that in mind. The speaker would be compensated with all the things he needed. That’s why they spent billions of shillings on the treatment in the United States. The medical transfer and everything else.
This is just another elite and high ranking official that dies abroad. As the state can afford their treatment abroad, but cannot afford to build working hospitals in their own republics. It is only the elites and VIPs who can do this. Therefore, Oulanyah was lucky to have medical facilities and ability to get special transport from Uganda to the USA. There should be no denying this… it is just a part of what is wrong with the system and a system he thrived in.
If Oulanyah would have been alive. He would defend and work for the causes of the President. A man who would stand on the barricades of the silencing of the opposition and stop the exposure of the brutality of the state towards the dissidents. That is the sort of fella Oulanyah was. They will paint him as a saint, but there is more too it. That’s why he was a voice of which the President respected, because he served him diligently.
Oulanyah was a man of the President and not of the Republic. He was a reflection of the President for Life and his tyranny. That’s who the fallen speaker is and his mirrored by the tyranny, which Museveni has brought onto the citizens of the Republic. Some might differ on that, but he has been a cog in the machine and the machinery wouldn’t work, if Oulanyah did serve like he did over the years. Peace.










