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ARUA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | Preparations are underway in Arua to welcome former Member of Parliament for Arua District and Ayivu County, as well as former Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, back home after more than 15 years of self-exile in the United States.
Bakoko returned to Uganda in August 2024 but has since been residing and working in the office of Gen. Salim Saleh in Gulu, without stepping foot in West Nile or her hometown of Arua City.
A nurse by profession, Bakoko first worked at Yumbe Hospital before serving as District Nurse at Arua Hospital. She later transitioned into politics, becoming the Woman Member of Parliament for Arua from 1996 to 2001. She went on to defeat then MP Dick Nyai to represent Ayivu County from 2001 to 2006.
During her tenure, she was appointed Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development. In 2007, she fled the country and sought asylum in the US, citing threats to her life. Bakoko is expected to make her first public appearance in West Nile at the commemoration of 22 years of peace in the region, to be held in Yumbe District on April 12. President Museveni, who will preside over the event, is expected to recognize her efforts in pacifying the region during the West Nile Bank Front and Uganda National Rescue Front II rebellions.
On Sunday, April 13, she will travel from Yumbe to Arua City for a grand welcome and thanksgiving Mass at Greenlight Stadium in Onduparaka. The Mass will be presided over by the Bishop of Arua Diocese, Rt. Rev. Sabino Ocan Odoki. Bakoko will later meet Ayivu elders and address the people of Ayivu.
Her challenges began with the NSSF Nsimbe Estates scandal, in which she is said to have blocked a fraudulent deal that would have cost the pension fund over UGX 8 billion. In May 2011, President Museveni pardoned Bakoko and encouraged her to return home. Ceaser Draecabo, Chairperson of the Central Organizing Committee for her homecoming, said her return is symbolic and reinvigorates the region’s development agenda.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Faith Cecilia, Bakoko’s second-born daughter who also lived with her in the US, said her mother’s 16-year absence left a deep void in the family.
Angelo Drani Dradriga, an Ayivu elder and Foreign Affairs Officer based in the Lake Albert region, who worked closely with Bakoko, underscored her role in peacebuilding in West Nile.
Swadik Angupale, Deputy Resident City Commissioner of Arua, confirmed that the family and organizing committee had been cleared to host her grand homecoming.
Joyce Amaguru, a longtime friend of Bakoko and NRM Chairperson for Arua City, noted that her return could mark a new chapter for the ruling party in the region ahead of the next general elections.
It is highly anticipated that President Museveni will not only award her a Peace Medal in Yumbe but also attend her homecoming celebrations in Arua City. Bakoko is widely expected to contest in the upcoming elections.
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