My dad had no money to send me to university - Obote's son

By Godfrey Ojore

SOROTI - The son of former Ugandan president Milton Obote has said his late father failed to send him to university because “he did not have money”.

Jimmy Akena, who is the Lira Municipality MP and an aspirant for the UPC party presidency, left delegates from Teso sub-region stunned recently with the revelation.

"My father who was twice the President of Uganda did not have money to take me to university; many people can't believe," said the legislator.

Obote led Uganda to independence in 1962 from British colonial rule. After independence, he served as Prime Minister for four years then President from 1966 to 1971.

He later bounced back as Uganda’s leader in 1980 until 1985 after the ousting of Idi Amin in 1979 – who had overthrown him earlier in 1971.

"In all his time as President he did not steal anything, he did not have accounts abroad. His account was in UCB [Uganda Commercial Bank] which the government had already closed," Akena told keen delegates.

Some shook their heads in disbelief, especially at the university detail revealed earlier.

The ex-president’s son was in Soroti trying to drum up support from delegates in the party’s presidential race.

He said that back then, he approached a family friend to help him pay his school fees, but that attempt was fruitless. Without naming that person, Akena told of how disappointed he became, pushing him to look for work.

‘I don’t need to carry them wherever I go’

Now he is determined to beat nine others to the party’s top job in a race that features UPC vice president Joseph Bbosa.

The elections are scheduled to take place on June 12 – a little over two weeks away.
 

A joyful Akena (far-left) sings along with other party members in Soroti. (Credit: Godfrey Ojore)

Akena’s latest remarks come days after his academic qualifications were defended by the party’s secretary general Rev. Fr. Jacinta Ogwal against claims by some UPC members that the former First Son is a Senior Two (S.2) drop-out that makes him ineligible to contest for the top office.

The party’s chairman Prof. Edward Kakonge reportedly led the group that made those claims.

Commenting on that, Akena assured the delegates that he had all the qualifications and that they should not worry about such talk peddled against him.

"I have all the qualifications and I don't need to carry them everywhere I go," he said, without offering more detail on his academic status.

Talking politics, Akena told the group that UPC's failure to capture power in the last three decades has been a result of lack of good leadership to build the party right from the grassroots level.

"There is an assumption that Akena refused to work with Dr. [Olara] Otunnu [current party president], but the reality is that I disagreed with Otunnu on how to move the party. There is no way we can get to State House without the structures on the ground.”

He assured delegates that he is willing to work with everybody who supports his ideas of building the party structures.

On their part, the delegates in Teso promised to rally behind him if he stood by his words of concentrating to build the party.

"We are behind you and we want you to bringunity in the party which was once a vibrant party in the country," said Jimmy Elungat, a delegate from Katakwi district.

When asked about UPC becoming a family affair, Akena said he is not being enthroned but he is contesting and the party members have the right to elect him into power or not.

His mother, Miria Obote has also been at the helm of the party's leadership.



Also related to this story

Akena is not an S.2 dropout - UPC boss