Parliament reschedules special sitting for late Ngora MP Apolot

KAMPALA - Uganda's Parliament has rescheduled a special sitting to pay tribute to the late Ngora district Woman Member of Parliament, Stella Apolot Isodo, from Tuesday to Wednesday (January 21).

Apolot of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party died last Saturday at Kampala Hospital, only days after losing her re-election bid to National Resistance Movement (NRM) flagbearer Josephine Pedun.

She was 51.

Ngora County MP Juliet Achayo Lodou said "my colleague and a sister" had been sick for a while.

In a notice issued to MPs, Clerk to Parliament Adolf Mwesige said Apolot's body will arrive at Parliament at 10am, where members of the public and legislators will view the body and sign a condolence book.

A special sitting will then be held at 2pm, during which MPs will pay tribute to their late fellow lawmaker. This will be followed by a vigil at her home in Namugongo.

A funeral service will be held at the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG) Church in Soroti.

Another vigil is planned in Osigiria village, Ngora town council, and the burial will take place at Apolot's ancestral home on Friday.

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among said the House had originally planned to hold the sitting on Tuesday but later adjusted the programme. 

On Sunday, a moment of silence in honour of the late MP was observed during an event at President Yoweri Museveni’s home in Rwakitura, during which Among conveyed condolences to Apolot's family.

FDC president Patrick Oboi Amuriat said Apolot, who had served as the spokesperson of Teso Parliamentary Group, was last year flown out of the country for specialised treatment and returned during campaign time.

“She underwent successful operation from abroad and returned with a hope of recovering well and start campaigns," he said, adding that her agents did the campaigning for her as she recovered.

“Even without campaigning [herself], she garnered 11,334 votes. She would not have lost that seat if she was not sick."

Juliet Agonyo, the Soroti city speaker, said Teso sub-region has lost a leader who related with all the people. She was widely regarded as a passionate advocate for development in Ngora and the wider Teso.

“It is a sad moment for her family because her step-brother is being buried on Sunday, January 18, and now her."