“This is the fourth body we are burying in two and half years,” – says Among while asking the church to pray for MPs.
"I urge the Church to pray for us, Members of Parliament. Where we could have wronged, we ask for forgiveness,” Among said.
Speaker Anita Among has beseeched the Church to continuously pray for the 11th Parliament for good health.
Among who was speaking at the funeral service to honour the fallen Dokolo Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Cecilia Ogwal at All Saints Cathedral, Kampala on Tuesday, 23 January 2024 said the 11th Parliament has lost four sitting Members of Parliament in a space of two and a half years.
“I urge the Church to pray for us, Members of Parliament. Where we could have wronged, we ask for forgiveness,” Among said.
In March 2022, Parliament lost Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah, and in December same year, Serere County Member of Parliament, Hon. Patrick Okabe died in a road accident. In May 2023, the State Minister for Labour, Hon. Charles Engola Mac-Odwogo Okello was killed by his bodyguard.
Among re-echoed that Ogwal was an advocate of women’s rights and an ambassador of the health sector. “She was a nationalist, patriot, and prayer warrior. She valued family values and I remember when we were debating the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, she came out boldly against same-sex marriage,” Among said.
Rev. Onesimus Asiimwe, the Bishop of North Kigezi Diocese, who was representing the Archbishop of Church of Uganda, Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu said the late Ogwal was a spiritual legislator who prepared for eternal rest even when she was still alive.
“She was a very strong voice for the voiceless and marginalized girl child…Hon. Cecilia was a great legislator, she was eloquent and whenever she took to the Floor of Parliament, she ably articulated the needs of her constituency,” Rev. Asiimwe said.
He added that the late had rare boldness and yet remained a humble and submissive wife and a mother. “Having all this package in one person is a gift from God…In short, Hon. Cecilia has gone too soon,” he said adding that the fallen legislator upheld family values and the sanctity of marriage and urged the family to keep her legacy alive.
“To the children, take on the baton and run along with her legacy,” he said.
On behalf of the women’s movement, Hon. Miria Matembe, a leading women’s rights activist and former Member of Parliament expressed pain for losing Hon. Ogwal whom she described as the shoulder of hope for many.
“This is the only person who has lived according to Uganda’s national anthem-For God and my Country. She succeeded at all three levels; lived by Godly principles, succeeded at the public level and even family level,” she said.
Mzee Lameck Ogwal, the husband of the late Ogwal remembers his wife as a great woman and mother who never entertained any spirit of disobedience.
“At one time while she was at Parliament, she asked the Speaker to close the debate because it was past 7pm and she needed to go and feed her husband. She was not only a good wife but a great mother,” Lameck said.
Dr. Rosemary Alwoc, the deceased’s first child, said her mother took a lot of guidance from her Christian faith about love and family. “She was a very loving mother; she adopted children and even looked after kids from the extended family. The love she learnt from her faith was translated into her family,” she said.
Ogwal’s casket will be transported to Dokolo District for another church service at her home in Adok Sub-County and thereafter, a night vigil. She will be laid to rest on Saturday in Kole District.
