The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is yet to rebury the remains of Brigadier Pierrino Okoya and his wife Anna Akello three years after constructing their graves in Palaro Sub County, Gulu district.
In April 2019, the government deployed the UPDF Engineering Service Brigade from the Forth Division Army Barracks to construct and title graves for the reburial of the deceased couple. However, the government halted the reburial program because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which came with numerous restrictions including the ban on public gatherings.
The graves, which are found at the couple’s home in Bongo Tyet, approximately 47 kilometers North East of Gulu City are now covered with iron sheets and tall grasses. Angered by the government’s failure to rebury the couple, Brigadier Okoya`s clansmen from Kal Pupanu opted to conduct traditional rituals and rebury the couple.
This required the cleansing of the graves by slaughtering a male and female goat and using remains from the large intestine or burying fruits of Kigelia Africana alias the Sausage Tree locally known as ‘’Yago’’ in the graves to appease the couple’s spirits as well as the gods, who are believed to have been angered by the delayed reburial.
The deceased’s family members explain that there have been a series of strange happenings including death, sickness, and bad dreams since the restitution of Brigadier Okoya and Akello by the government and Lamogi kinsmen who are believed to have had a hand in the assassination of the couple in 1970 and the failed reburial.
Brigadier Okoya`s nephew, Francis Ocan explains that some of the family members experienced strange diseases, accidents, and horrible dreams depicting death, something he and elders in the area largely attribute to the couple’s anger.
Traditionally in the Acholi, a grave does not last more than two days from the day it was dug. According to Ocan, the family delayed covering the grave or rebury Brigadier Okoya because they were waiting for communication from the government.
Charles Okello, the Agoro Sub ward councilor where the open graves are found, says that the community was equally angered by their abandonment. He disclosed that the deceased’s nephews he identified as Charles Odong and Otum died mysteriously and another suffered a mental breakdown, something he says was largely attributed to the anger of the spirits of the deceased’s couple.
Robert Akena, the Chairperson Kal Pupanu clan notes that even when the government lifted the COVID-19 restrictions it has remained silent on the matter. Akena, who acknowledges the mysterious happenings in the family, notes that the deceased turned their anger on the family because they were never accorded a decent burial.
He explains that the family through the Acholi Cultural Institution had agreed to rebury Brigadier Okoya and Akello traditionally on April 23rd, 2022 but were stopped by the Aswa County Member of Parliament who pledged to engage the government to accord the couple a decent burial.
Simon Wokorach, the Aswa County Member of Parliament regretted the delays in the reburial program, saying that it was an oversight of the government. He however notes that the government will finally conduct a state reburial for Brigadier Okoya on June 18th this year, renovate the grave and construct a three-bedroom house for the family in memory of Okoya`s service to the country.
On Thursday Brigadier Okoya`s family led by his brother Binansio Omony and his eldest son Johnson Lajul handed over the construction site to the UPDF Engineering Service Brigade, saying that it was long-awaited.
Lt. Hassan Mawa, who heads the UPDF Engineering Service Brigade Department at Forth Division Barracks, says that they will construct a three-bedroom house, and shelter atop Brigadier Okoya`s grave.
Brigadier Okoya`s Conflicting Death Accounts
It is now 52 years since Brigadier Pierrino Okoya Yere and his wife Anna Akello were killed on January 25th, 1970 from their home in Koro Village Gulu district now in Omoro district. To date, there have been different accounts of the assassination.
Certain accounts blame Maj. Gen Idi Amin, the then Chief of Staff of the Uganda Army for killing Okoya as he planned to overthrow the Obote I government on grounds that he would approve of his plans. It is alleged that the situation worsened when Brigadier Okoya publicly challenged Amin for mishandling the attempted assassination of Obote.
Another theory alleges that Brig. Okoya was killed on the orders of President Dr. Apollo Milton Obote as a ploy to trap Idi Amin with whom he had fallen out.
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