"I'm Tired Of Receiving Dead Bodies"- Speaker Among As She Eulogies Late Hon Cecilia.

 

While Addressing mourners at the vigil of the late Hon. Cecilia  Ogwal at her home in Bugolobi last night, the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Anita  Among requested the Archbishop of the church of Uganda, Dr. Steven Kazimba Mugalu to find time and hold prayers from the August house. 

Her request came shortly after her outcry over the extra rate of deaths recorded in Parliament in two and a half years. 

The speaker shockingly revealed that she had received four dead bodies of  Members of Parliament ever in just

 two years.

They include:- the former speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon Jacob Oulanya, Hon. Patric Okabe, Minister Charles Engola, and currently Cecilia Ogwal. 

In her remarks, the speaker also praised the late Cecilia Ogwal for her great work and advocacy of empowerment for the girl child.

The woman member of parliament for Dokolo District Hon. Cecilia Barbara Atim Ogwal nicknamed “the iron lady” passed away of the 18th of January, 2024 in a hospital in India where she has been receiving medical treatment.

The news of her demise was announced by the speaker of Parliament R.t Hon. Annet Anita Among on behalf of the 11th parliament.

According to the reports, the Dokolo woman member of parliament had been battling cancer at the time of her death.

Cecilia Barbara Atim Ogwal was born on 12 June 1946, she has been both a Ugandan politician and a businesswoman. She has been the Member of Parliament for Dokolo District Women’s Constituency and she's served as a legislator continuously since 1996.

In 1969, at the age of 23, she won the “Miss Uganda” contest. Ogwal is a member of the parliamentary Committee of Physical Infrastructure in charge of overseeing and covering policy matters related to Lands, Housing, Urban development, Works and Transport, and Physical Planning. She was also a member of the budget committee 

She became involved in Ugandan politics, serving as the Acting Secretary General of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) from 1985 to 1992. In 1994, she was part of the Constituent Assembly which drafted and promulgated the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. She remained a high-ranking official in the UPC political party until 2004. During the 2006 parliamentary elections, she lost her Lira Municipality seat to Jimmy Akena, the son of UPC founder Milton Obote. In 2011, Ogwal contested and won the Women’s Representative seat for the newly created Dokolo District. This time she switched political parties and ran as a full member of the Forum for Democratic Change party, where she has served until the time of her death.

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Burial program  issued  by Speaker Among:

I want to extend my sincere gratitude to Ugandans from all walks of life for the outpouring of love for Imat Cecilia Ogwal since the news of her passing was made public. Like the unifying person that she was in life, I ask that we continue to celebrate her legacy in the same way. I want to thank the Clergy and the different political parties for respecting the legacy of Imat ,indeed she belonged to Uganda.

Section 6 of The Administration of Parliament Act 2007 (as amended) places the responsibility of Members of Parliament dead or alive in the hands of the Parliamentary Commission. As such , the Parliamentary Commission is under obligation to take centre stage in coordinating the burial arrangements for our departed Mother and mentor with the family. It is also a long tradition in Parliament that the institution takes centre stage in organising the send off of a sitting law maker. We shall continue to work closely with the family , the Lango Parliamentary Group, the leadership of the FDC in Parliament and all the different groups that Imat belonged to.  After close consultations with the members of her family and other stake holders , I want to inform the Country that a programme has been formalised to give a decent send off to our mother. 

The Programme will run as follows: