Akena Adoko groomed most of today’s leaders in politics and business

What is the purpose of life? Put differently, what should one do with their life?

Dr Naphlin Akena Adoko posed that question during the Lango Association Conference 2007 in London where he spoke as chairman. And his answer was simple; it is the duty of everyone to develop their potentialities in life; and of course to use them.  He was quoting Prof. Harold Laski of the London School of Economics.

Since his death on Jan. 8 in London, speaker after speaker have commented on how much Adoko not only developed his potentialities but also those of others.

Born on Sept. 27, 1931 Adoko was first educated at Boroboro College  in Lira, then at Nyakasura School  before moving on to Khartoum University in Sudan.

It was the first of many journeys that could see him spend the bigger part of his life outside his country.  From Khartoum he went to continue his law studies in India, then to the United Kingdom and eventually to the US. From 1946, he first returned to Uganda in 1960, worked briefly as a magistrate, then he opened his chambers, and in 1962 he joined government.

In 1971, after a coup by Gen. Idi Amin against his cousin president Milton Obote, Akena Adoko fled into exile. He returned in 1979 but went back to London in 1985. For the last 23 years he has been living in London.

Ben Wacha, the Oyam North Member of Parliament, who worked in his law firm in Tanzania in the mid-1970s, describes the former chief of Uganda’s first post-independence security agency, the General Service Unit (GSU) as “ a different person from the one who people are talking about”.

People have talked about his sharpness of mind, being a brilliant individual, a poet, but Wacha describes him simply as “a very nice human being”.

“He was almost like a lamp that attracts moths. Any where Akena would be sitting socially, there would be a crowd of individuals. He was very good at talking and laughing,” he says.

Chris Opoka Okum the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party secretary general describes Adoko as a person who loved to raise very controversial issues.

In the 1960s Adoko was a television personality with people like prominent lawyer Wycliffe Kazzora, Aggrey Awori, and the late Abu Mayanja who became prominent politicians  like himself and Prof Ginyera  Pincwa and the Prof. Ali Mazrui, who became top academics.  They discussed topical issues of the day on television. He did the same thing in the 1980s when he returned from exile in Tanzania. During these debates Adoko revealed a very sharp mind, focused and a very good listener.

 “One thing about Akena is that he was a very provocative man,” says Chris Opoka . “He was fearless. In spite of being an intelligence chief, he believed that what concerns all had to be discussed by all. In spite of being an intellectual, he was able to accept to hear the views of other people.”

So did Akena Adoko plan a coup to oust his cousin the late Milton Obote?

“That is merely an invention. In fact when the 1971 coup took place, Akena was out of the country,” says Opoka.

Those close to him say it is highly unlikely Adoko was involved. They say although Adoko did not like the ruling National Resistance Movement of President Yoweri Museveni, for example, he never actually worked seriously against it.  That apparently, was his style. He was never at the forefront of any political activity. 

Akena Adoko will be remembered for his belief in grooming young people. In the 1980s when he was the chairman of the National Textiles Board, he appointed very many young people in managerial positions from all over the country who included John Matovu, Okumu Wengi, and Sam Kutesa who was the corporation secretary of the National Textiles Board and many others. 

Many political leaders today, including former minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Security minister Amama Mbabazi and President Yoweri Museveni are products of Akena Adoko’s grooming while he was boss of the General Service Unit (GSU). In the business community, industrialist James Mulwana is mentioned. Others include Justice Okumu Wenge, Osindek Wangol, and the late Li Gong (MP Okot Ogong`s elder brother).

According to Wacha, even people in the opposition were his friends.  He says former Prime Minister Kintu Musoke and the chairman of the People’s Progressive Party Bidandi Ssali who were originally very strong UPC youth but later disagreed with the party, remained in touch with Akena.

“When we were coming back in 1979, I don’t know if Bidandi Ssali knows this, it was Akena who was advocating for Bidandi Ssali to become the secretary general of UPC. Akena appreciated sharpness of mind. If you compare that to what people are writing about Akena, it baffles me, because they are ridiculing a nice individual.”

But then there are people like Maj. Kakooza Mutale who dreaded him.

In 1980, when Mutale was editor of The Economy newspaper and Akena Adoko returned from exile in Tanzania, he wrote one of the most famous headlines in Ugandan journalism. “Bad news…Akena Adoko is back”.

Wacha recalls Akena Adoko’s reaction: “He said, ‘this fellow doesn’t know me’.”

Opoka  says: “Yes, Akena was bad news to shallow minds.  To the others who knew him well, Akena was a very much liked person because of his provocative nature.”

Akena Adoko had been suffering from Leukemia. He is survived by a widow Santa Akena, seven children and nine grandchildren. Naphlin Akena Adoko was son to the Late Rwot Yakobo Adoko.  Just a few months before Akena died, he lost his first born Patrick Akena. 

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