The family of the late speaker of parliament, Jacob Oulanyah seems to be the latest entrant into the politics of hereditary. Yesterday while speaking to the NRM party delegates in his Rwakitura home, president Museveni instructed the appointment of one of Oulanyah's children to represent the party in the coming by-elections.
"The decent thing to do is to let one of the children of Oulanyah stand in for him, for the remaining four years because if Oulanyah had not died, we would not have elections in Omoro until 2026. Whether he becomes useful or useless, we shall see. That's not the end of the world. If he doesn't perform it's not the end of the world," he said.
This was after the delegates seemed to have failed to come up with a sole candidate to represent the party, despite the fact that about six candidates had expressed interest. Among these were Omoro District Chairperson Douglas Peter Okello, Andrew Olal, Francis Rwotlonyo, Richard Bongowat Luganya, and Ben Acellam.
By the time of his death, Oulanyah's family came out to request that the spot be left for the son, Andrew Ojok, there reason being that it'd be a befitting act to honor the father's untimely death. Much as the request was ridiculed and met with strong opposition by the aspirants, the president's word seems final and in the favor of the family.
The by-elections are set to take place on 26th/05/2022 and we await to see who'll emerge victorious. Will Oulanya's son join the recent sect of 'hereditary politics?' or it will be a different story this time round?
