Hon. Jimmy Akena, the Member for Parliament, Representing Lira City East and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) Political Party President, has said the Late Dokolo District Women Representative stood for Democracy ideals in Uganda and the entire East African Region. Hon. Akena made the remarks while paying tribute to the late Mrs. Ogwal during a press conference at the UPC Head Office, located in Uganda House in Kampala on Wednesday.
“UPC recognizes and accepts the late Hon. Cecilia Ogwal’s contribution towards spearheading Democracy in Uganda,” he said.
Mr.Akena said UPC, under the late Dr. Milton Apollo Obote, his Father, nurtured Cecilia Ogwal to be a true democrat and patriotic Ugandan in the 1980s.
“UPC was the first Government to empower women like Cecilia Ogwal into political leadership positions. No other party had done this. Not even the Democratic Party (DP), which is the oldest political Party in Uganda,” he added.
Asked by Journalists why UPC abrogated the 1962 Ugandan Constitution in 1966, Akena said:
“There was no illegality in this because the Parliament in 1966 was constituted into a Constituent Assembly and given a mandate to draft a new constitution for Uganda.”
He said those bickering about the 1962 Constitution abrogation don’t have facts on constitutionalism processes Uganda had undertaken after Independence and that as UPC, they have never outlawed any Constitution.
Regarding Health Service Provision in Uganda, Hon. Akena said Uganda has the best medical Doctors to attend to any medical complications, but are scattered across the globe for green pasture. He called on the Government to endeavor to attract Ugandan Doctors back in the country, to treat chronic diseases, such as cancer that claimed Hon. Cecilia Ogwal’s life.
Citing his late father’s sickness while being attended to in a South African Hospital, Hon. Akena said:
“I was very surprised when I saw very many Ugandan Doctors turning up to give a helping hand when my father was admitted in a South African Hospital.”
The 77 year old Cecilia Ogwal, was pronounced dead last Thursday after succumbing to cancer at a hospital in India. She is expected to be laid to rest at her marital home in Kole District on Saturday.
