ICU founder members petition court over installation of interim Emorimor

Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The founder members of Iteso Cultural Union-ICU have run to Soroti high court to block the installation of Paul Sande Emolot as the acting Emorimor. The team that comprises seven members is led by William Alloch Akol, the chairperson of ICU.

They are Joyce Asekenye, who represents Kumi, Stephen Enokokin from Serere, Joseph Okadapao from Tororo, Pauline Apio from Katakwi, Lydia Agoda Acom from Ngora and Alfred Aruo, the former Mayor of Soroti Municipality.

The group is contesting the procedures and qualifications of Emorimor. They contend that the ICU council was suspended by the late Emorimor, Augustine Osuban Lemukol in June 2021, a position that the petitioners say was never challenged before his death.

Alloch says that the installation of the caretaker Emorimor is against the ICU Constitution of 2019 that he notes was violated.

Anthony Bernard Okanyum of Okanyum Musana & Co. Advocates, says that there were a number of irregularities during the installation of the caretaker Emorimor.

He adds that the suspension of the ICU Council remains one of the key issues that the elders are seeking court redress.

For example, Okanyum said that John Francis Okuma, the Speaker of the council was elected as a youth representative to ICU Council from Pallisa yet he is a retired civil servant.

Gabriel Opolot Ononge, the ICU Spokesman of the new cabinet, says that the former Emorimor didn’t suspend the council because there was no letter to that effect. Opolot notes that the purported suspension letter was not addressed to ICU Council Chairperson or Speaker but to ICU district chairpersons, something he notes was an irregularity. According to Opolot, Emolot is an Emorimor based on the provisions of the ICU Constitution.

Emolot was installed by the ICU Council on March 2, 2022, at ICU offices in Soroti city. The same council meeting disbanded ICU Cabinet and appointed new cabinet members. The former Emorimor in his letter dated June 14, 2021, suspended the council over the alleged electoral irregularities and inconsistencies in the 2019 elections.

The same letter dissolved the ICU electoral commission following the recommendations of the Iteso Harmonization Committee headed by Msgr. Robert Ecogu. Since the demise and burial of the Emorimor in February, two rival camps emerged struggling to caretake the office of Emorimor.

The cabinet led by Augustine Omare- Okurut was seen spearheading burial arrangements to the end. But ICU Council later on convened a meeting where they installed Emolot as interim Emorimor and disbanded the cabinet over what they described as insubordination.

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