Andrew Ojok Oulanyah of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party has been declared the winner of the election to be the new Omoro County Member of Parliament replacing his late father Jacob Oulanyah. He was announced at about 10:15 pm by the returning officer Kagona Moses.
KAMPALA | NOW THEN DIGITAL — On Thursday evening, the returning officer declared Andrew Ojok Oulanyah the winner of the election to become the new Omoro County Member of Parliament, replacing his late father Jacob Oulanyah.
- Ojok Oulanyah was declared the winner in the Omoro elections by the returning officer Kagona Moses at roughly 10:15 pm on Thursday.
- Oulanyah’s family requested in a letter to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa that his eldest son be selected to continue in his father’s footsteps.
- Kyagulanyi, who wrote a post on his social media account about the Omoro election results, said the election was one-sided since the opposition was denied the right to campaign.
- Erias Lukwago, who is a member of the Forum for Democratic Change party (FDC) said on his social media accounts that the percentage difference was absurd in an area where there have always been fewer voters.
- He noted that even the late Jacob Oulanyah, a seasoned leader in the area, never attained such a high percentage at any one time.
Andrew Ojok Oulanyah, the candidate of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, has won the election to become the new member of parliament for Omoro County, replacing the late Jacob Oulanyah.
In the just-concluded Omoro County by-elections, Ojok Oulanyah won 14,224 votes, beating out competition from five other candidates including Simon Toolit Aketcha, the second-place finisher of the National Unity Platform party.
Speaking shortly after his maiden victory, Ojok Oulanyah thanked all those who voted for him together with his NRM party for accepting to front him as their candidate.
“This is a very important victory especially given the number of voters, it is a big statement. I want to thank all the candidates who stood, they gave an alternative,” he said.
“I want to thank the party and local leadership. This election should unite us. We need to come back together as leaders of Omoro,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Omoro seat fell vacant following the death of Jacob Oulanyah on March 20. Oulanyah who also doubled as Speaker of Parliament reportedly succumbed to multi-organ failure.
Following his death, in a request to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa, Oulanyah’s family requested that his eldest son be fronted for the seat to continue with the legacy of his father.
The request that sparked a series of debates and discussions from the public including NRM party leaders was accepted by President Museveni who endorsed Ojok to complete his father’s five-year term.
Museveni who met with five more NRM aspirants seeking to be taken through the primaries for the position at the time said in memory of what the late Jacob Oulanyah did, it was decent enough to front one of his children to complete his legacy.
He also challenged the aspirants that ideally elections were supposed to be held in 2026 and not 2022, urging that they should pretend like Oulanyah is still holding the seat.
“The decent thing to do is to let one of the children of Oulanyah stand in for him, for the remaining 4 years,” Museveni said adding that is then that they will determine whether he has been useful or useless to the party and the position as a whole.
