Besigye meets his look-alike

Sep 01, 2014

Ex-FDC president Col. Kizza Besigye meets Kenyan Jeff Ochieng, who is much teased for resembling the Ugandan politician.

By Cecilia Okoth, Nigel M. Nassar & Raymond Baguma

KAMPALA - Former Forum for Democratic Change president Col. Kizza Besigye has met Jeff Ochieng, a Kenyan, who is much teased for resembling Uganda’s top opposition politician.

Early last month, New Vision broke the story about a 22-year-old Kenyan photojournalist searching for his father.

Ochieng said for the past nine years, he has been asked if he was Besigye’s son because of the striking resemblance.

He arrived in Uganda last week to meet Besigye and ask him if they are related.

On Sunday, the two had a cordial meeting at Besigye’s home in Kasangati, Wakiso. Ochieng also met Besigye’s other family members with whom they dined and took pictures.

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The two did not miss out on a selfie moment . . . at least for keeps sake. PHOTO/Juliet Kasirye

After the meeting, Ochieng told New Vision: “I feel much honoured and I count myself lucky. We have talked about everything except football. He told me about his family history and I also told him about my life. There is no chance of any relation.”

But the lanky Ochieng was all jovial and his visit to Uganda has not been in vain because in Besigye, he has a friend, whom he described as “a welcoming guy”.

Besigye told New Vision he had seen Ochieng’s picture before they met, and he had been told about their resemblance.

“But there is no possibility or opportunity to consider that I am his parent; which if there is, I would celebrate it,” Besigye said.

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Besigye with his family in Boston in 2011. Left is Winnie and right is their son Anselm

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BROTHERS? Not really. Anselm (left) in 2011 and Ochieng (right)

Ochieng, who works with Standard newspaper, has never met his father and never got the chance to ask his mother before she died about 10 years ago.

He said in an interview published in New Vision: “I loved my mother, Elisha Adhiambo, so much, but unfortunately God did not allow her to live. Probably, she could have answered all my questions.”

Besigye said: “I treat it as a good thing that we resemble. Someone has a background I am empathetic to — of losing their parents when they were young. But I think there are many people who look alike.’’

"At the end of the day, we are all from the same stock of Adam and Eve. I don’t know what makes people look alike, but I celebrate the fact that we are all interrelated.”

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Here, Besigye interacts with census enumerators at his residence in Kasangati on the day he met his look-alike. PHOTO/Juliet Kasirye

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Ochieng arrived in Uganda last week on a quest to meet Besigye. PHOTO/Juliet Kasirye

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