Obote's brother dies at 96

 

Aged 96, Akaki died Friday morning of natural causes. According to family members, he died peacefully at his home in Akokoro, Apac district. 

 

His nephew, Jimmy Akena, said Akaki had been unwell for the last three months. "We have been in and out of hospital for the last two to three months," he said.

 

Asked about the cause of death, Akena said it had not yet been established by Friday since he had just died that morning. Akena revealed that Akaki will be buried in Akokoro, where his brother, Obote, was also laid to rest. 

 

Obote died on October 10, 2005, of kidney failure in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he had been admitted and he was buried at his home in Akokoro. Obote had spent many years in exile in Zambia from where he was moved to South Africa for medication.

 

Akena explained that the family was yet to converge and come up with burial arrangements, adding that they were working on the programme. "We will decide the burial date after we have converged as a family."

 

While Obote loathed President Yoweri Museveni, Akaki supported him and he has on several occasions campaigned for him in Lango sub-region.

 

In 2004, while Obote was still in exile in Zambia, he claimed that Museveni had killed their father, Stanley Opeto. However, Akaki dismissed the claims as untrue.

 

Akaki then told New Vision from his home in Akokoro that their father was strangled in 1987 by Karimojong cattle rustlers and buried in a three-feet deep grave. 

 

Akaki said Opeto's grandson, Johnson Onapa, told them that he witnessed the murder from a tree where he was hiding.

 

"It is not true that Museveni killed our father. He should stop tarnishing the image of the president," Akaki said in response to Obote's claims. 

 

Later, Akaki asked President Museveni to renovate Obote's house in Lira town, which was formerly occupied by UPDF soldiers, and the house has since been renovated.

 

Several family friends took to social media to eulogise Akaki, whom they described as a calm and peace-loving person. 

 

"Akaki lived a very quiet and humble life. You could not know that he was even a brother to a President, even when Obote was still in power," said a family friend, who only identified himself as Ogwang.

 

According to Ogwang, Akaki disliked conflicts in the society, and in Akokoro, stories are told of how residents would go to him instead of going to the Local Council to help them resolve their conflicts.