Why Kalongo holds a special place in ex-LOP Prof. Latigo's heart

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Since his defeat in the 2021 Agago North parliamentary race, Prof. Morris Ogenga Latigo has quietly retreated into private life. Yet one thing he continues to carry with him is an enduring devotion to Kalongo—a small town in Agago district that gave him his first shot at life. Wherever he goes, Kalongo goes with him.

At his two-storey home on Mutungo hill in Kampala, a striking mural of the town’s sweeping flat plains and the towering Mt Kalongo—a large granite volcanic rock—greets visitors as they enter.

On May 10, 2025, as I waited in the calm of his Mutungo residence for our interview to begin, I knew a conversation about Kalongo would be inevitable. I brought it up even before we got into more serious matters—a warm starter of sorts.

When I asked, his eyes instantly locked onto the mural. Stroking his greying beard, he opened up.

“As you can see, the painting is of Kalongo and Parabong mountains. The bigger mountain on the right is Parabong. Kalongo is my hometown, I love the place. It reminds me of everything. Growing up in total freedom, an environment of adventure that you cannot get anywhere,” said Latigo.

My eyes soon caught the paintings of Fr John Scalabrini and Fr Giuseppe Ambrosoli—a Comboni missionary and doctor—partially veiled by tree branches near the mural. In typical journalistic fashion, I asked what the duo meant to him.

From altar boy to MP

Latigo revealed that he once served as an altar boy to Ambrosoli, whom he described as an incredible priest.

“He would say mass for children. Just think of saying mass for children, and you preach, and the children listen attentively. He would preach in Acholi; he came and learnt Acholi. Not many of my colleagues saw that, to me, it was one of the amazing things. I would go to church, and when he is talking about something fundamental, I would look at the church and it would be completely quiet,” he alluded.

“Even when he had said mass in the morning, he would pass by the church and pray and then go to the hospital, which is just behind the church. Coming back for lunch, he passes by and prays. He was an absolutely devoted person,” Latigo added.

He said Fr John Scalabrini, on the other hand, stood firmly with his people during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency—a stance that once led to his deportation.

Eventually, the Government allowed him back into the country, on the condition that he would not return to Northern Uganda.

“He even established somewhere there, I cannot remember the name well now and then came and rebuilt Bbiina parish,” he said.

As our conversation continued, it became clear that his connection to Fr Scalabrini ran deeper than the pulpit.

“He (John Scalabrini) is particularly important to me because my father-in-law Jino Obonyo was a Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament at independence. He was also a member of the Legislative Council (LEGCO). Politics those days, DP members were Catholics, and Fr John was very instrumental in supporting the political growth of my father-in-law,” Latigo narrated.

“In 1973, during Amin’s time, he was abducted in Kitgum, and his remains were never seen again. Fr John took over keeping the family. The youngest child, Alice coincidentally sent me a message yesterday, was about four or five years old. Fr John took her to Italy and then later took three other sisters of Alice to Italy. Actually, three sisters are still there. Alice, Olympia and one other girl,” he stated.

Unsurprisingly, it was Fr Scalabrini who received the dowry at Latigo’s wedding, standing in for the bride’s late father.

Father’s legacy

Given his closeness to the Church, it became increasingly clear that, like many families across the country, his own would have loved to see him become a priest. Careful not to offend, I gently asked why he chose a different path.

“Once our firstborn became a brother, it would be a real calling for somebody to join him as a real brother or as a priest. But I was very close to my dad. My dad was the first person to qualify as a teacher from Agago. He taught people, like the father of the current Chief Justice, Hon. Owiny-Dollo. His oldest surviving student is called Rwot Okori Layika. Last year he celebrated his 100th birthday,” he shared.

Latigo explained that his father, fondly known as Lapony (teacher), played a crucial role in shaping Agago, then part of Kitgum district. Despite a modest salary, he brought promising children into his home to help them continue their education.

One of them, John Ochieng, went on to become the first Ugandan to earn a first-class degree in veterinary medicine.

“My dad would say he (Ochieng) would go home, and then his grandfather had lots of goats and sheep. So, he would want the child to graze them. So, for two weeks, he would not be in school until dad would go and say; This child must go to school. You bring him, you have taught for two weeks when he was not in class, but when you sit exams, he would beat everybody,” (we both burst out laughing).

Because of his father’s remarkable record, Latigo said he earned the deep trust of the community to the extent that even after retirement, people entrusted him with their dowries.

“As altar boys, we had a joke that if everybody in Kalongo died suddenly, the only person they were sure would have gone to heaven was my father. And God did something really great. I was close to him when he was old, he would tell me that when his time comes, nobody should cry. He said God allowed him to do everything and all that was left was to thank him,” he recalled.

Miraculous spectacle

Indeed, his father died on Good Friday while Latigo was at his farm in Bweyale, just as he had instructed. Two years later, his mother passed away on Easter Sunday.

That morning, he said an Italian nun had to administer Holy Communion to her because she could not move. Later, they had lunch together. As Latigo listened to the BBC World Service at around 11:15pm, a knock from his sister interrupted him with the sad news of their mother’s death.

“Two almost miraculous things. My dad died on the night of Good Friday, while mum died on the night of Easter Sunday. So, when people see me walk away from accidents, they start thinking all sorts of things. The last time, a friend of mine, Caroline, who works with the UN in South Sudan, called me when she got my Airtel number. I asked if she was in Uganda, and she said she’d been trying to reach me,” Latigo explained.

“Because my MTN phone was left in the crashed car. Fortunately, my Airtel was in my travel bag, which was the only thing I took away from there. She told me she kept calling until she got my Airtel number from a lawyer in Gulu. Then she said, 'When the lawyer gave me your number, I asked him, "How is the professor?" and he replied, "People should stop joking about professor. Those who want to kill him can try, but they will never succeed. Professor has a Nigerian witch doctor with one breast. So, my Nigerian witch doctors are my parents,” he bragged.

Love for birds

At this point, our conversation was briefly interrupted by a phone call. When we resumed, our attention shifted to his neatly kept compound, with terrazzo paths flanked by jackfruit, guava, and avocado trees.

He chuckled at my suggestion that it resembled a sanctuary, then disclosed that his retirement pad now shelters bird species long driven away by urban expansion.

“I am an ecologist by training. So, I love nature, and I think I understand nature. And nature understands me,” Latigo asserted.

“I can tell you, for example, that when we were building here, Namanve was not destroyed, even the forest was still there. Kasukus used to move from there to the lake and this was their route. I later realised that the Kasukus knew that guavas were ripening and had to come. They still come,” he added.

Not seeing any birds around, I joked that perhaps they had fled on hearing I was coming. To prove me wrong, he took me on a bird walk, showing me fresh nests.

“If you come at 6:30pm in the evening, a pair will come and rest there and then continue. So, when we bought this place these big trees were there, we didn’t touch them. What we did was to add. I can tell you the kind of birds that live here. (Bird chirping). You hear that one? That is a dove, a black ringed one. You see that one there, it nested, and the young ones matured. In front there, there is another one for these small birds with long beaks that go for the flowers,” he retorted.

“When kites attack birds, they fly to the house because they feel secure. There are birds that start singing at 6:25am and you know it is morning on a daily basis. You don’t need somebody to ring a bell or an alarm for you, they will alert you,” Latigo concluded.