Archbishop Yonah Okoth is dead

Archbishop Yonah Okoth is dead The 74-year-old former Church of Uganda prelate passed away yesterday in Mulago Hospital where he was admitted a day before. Charles Wendo reports that President Yoweri Museveni was yesterday among the people who sent condolences to Okoth’s family. Family sources said Okoth had been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure for years and had become weak. However, doctors said the cause of death was a blood clot in the lung, medically termed as pulmonary embolism. Prof. Andrew Otim, a senior doctor, described the death as “abrupt.” He said the long journey from Tororo to Kampala could have been responsible for the blood clot. “Even this morning, we were talking to him and he hoped to go home tomorrow (today). He was stable. Diabetes and blood pressure had been controlled but that one (pulmonary embolism) was beyond our control,” he said. Okoth’s death was a double tragedy to the family because his wife died last year. Okoth was Archbishop from 1984 to 1994. Prior to that he was the Bishop of Bukedi Diocese between 1972 and 1984. In 1977 he fled into exile but returned in 1979 after the overthrow of Idi Amin. Museveni expressed shock at the death. In a statement from State House, he said he “will always remember the late Archbishop for his leadership in the Church of Uganda over the years.” The statement, signed by the President’s Press Secretary, Mary Okurut, said Museveni hailed Okoth for development projects that he started in order to make the church financially self-sustaining. He called on the Church of Uganda, in remembrance of the late Okoth, to continue spreading and strengthening Christianity. Relatives were due to meet last evening in Bugolobi to finalise the funeral arrangements. They said tentatively the body remains in Mulago till Monday for a funeral service at the All Saints Church Nakasero. The family sources said the body will be buried in Maundo village in Tororo, Okoth’s ancestral home. Ends