Lira MP takes Brig. Oyite Ojok portrait to parliament

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Not many people were aware until the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, that Lira District Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Linda Agnes Auma is a descendant of one of the country’s celebrated military figures, the late Brig. Oyite Ojok.

For those unfamiliar with the name, Oyite Ojok was among the elite officers who, alongside the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF), took part in the 1979 liberation war that toppled the late Gen. Idi Amin from power.

At the time, he was one of the cornerstones of Kikoosi Malum, one of the fighting forces that were affiliated with former President Milton Apollo Obote.

Oyite Ojok went on to play several key roles in post-1979 transitional leadership, including serving on the Military Commission alongside incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

The Military Commission took power following the overthrow of Godfrey Binaisa and governed the country from May 12, 1980, until the December 1980 elections. These were controversially won by Obote’s Uganda People's Congress (UPC).

Parties, including the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), led by President Yoweri Museveni and the Democratic Party (DP), contended that the polls had been rigged.

This laid the bed for Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA) fighting force to wage a protracted guerrilla struggle.

Brig. Oyite Ojok, at the time, served as the army’s chief of staff. A position he held until he was killed in a helicopter crash on December 2, 1983, in Nakaseke district.

Family legacy

On Wednesday, Auma, who said she is Ojok's daughter, decided to honour her father.  Moments after taking her oath, as she exited the venue, her children proudly brandished a portrait of their grandfather.

Something Linda Agnes Auma said was a deliberate tribute to the late patriarch.

“He was a very loving father "Though he died when I was just two years old,  the memory of how he treated us as a family remains. I have decided to carry his photo because his spirit is here with us. I know my father would have done a lot for this country because he was a strong, resilient freedom fighter who died on the battlefield. He wanted Uganda to be safe and have a free working environment,” Auma stated.

That said, Linda Agnes Auma said she has not touched even half as many lives as her father did. 

“We, the children, are trying our best. I know I have not yet lived up to his level because his shoes are too big for us. The status he had in the government was too big, but if God accepts, we will reach. I also know he (Oyite Ojok) wronged other people on his behalf. I ask for forgiveness. she” she retorted.  

“I would also like to thank the President of the Republic of Uganda. I dropped out of school, but the President picked me up and educated me. I am here because of the value he created in me. Other people think that Oyite Ojok and he are enemies. But here I am as a product, and that’s why I am NRM (National Resistance Movement),” Auma summed.