A month ago when I met him it was impossible to believe that a month later he would be dead. He had asked me to his home for chat on an article that I was writing.
For journalists Ochora was a gem. He gave the best sound-bites and best quotes. He was ever the accessible, friendly, welcoming, cheerful and humorous man of quotes and bites.
Walter Ochora was a soldier, politician, farmer, businessman, artist and many times he would cheekily add; a coup announcer and former ‘President’ of both Uganda and Rwanda.
“That one I will just drink him like cold tea,” he once said of former Minister the late Charles Alai. Both men were battling for the Gulu LC seat. Soon after Alai stormed the newsroom where I worked and upon hearing that Ochora had baptised him ‘cold tea’, protested loudly: “How can that be when I will win by 80%?” he asked. Seeing I was not taking notes he yelled “write it”. In the end both lost to Norbert Mao.
Two years ago while doing some communication work I travelled with Ochora to Olwal Internally Displaced Person’s camp in Amuru district. He asked the IDPs why they were not leaving for their homes and villages when the whole region was now peaceful.
“There is no grass,” they said.
Ochora responded: it has been raining. It has been shinning. Grass has been growing. I did not hear of any miracle that God performed in Olwal for all the grass to disappear.
It was his way of telling off the villagers in characteristic humorous style. Instead of anger, his response elicited laughter.
I recorded the whole episode and gave it to Mega FM. It’s a one of the sound-bites that was aired repeatedly on radio after his death.
Ochora valued education. Despite dropping out of school in 1979 to join the military, Ochora took immediate benefit of the establishment of Gulu University in 2001 and enrolled for a degree in Development studies that he successfully completed. At the time of his death he was pursuing a Masters in Peace and Conflict Management at the same university.
Even in times of political loss Ochora always came out to gracefully accept defeat, usually on the veranda of his house where he addressed many a press conference in his trademark shorts and slippers.
In 2006 he lost the Gulu district Chairmanship to then bitter rival Norbert Mao. It was a nasty and fierce political battle that involved mudslinging, violence, guns and even threats of death.
But when the results were announced Ochora quickly conceded defeat and promised to work together with his ‘brother’ Mao.
For the five years the duo was Gulu Resident District Commissioner and LC5 Chairman respectively both displayed a level of political maturity that cut across ideological differences. Both were heavily involved in the Juba peace process that though inconclusive is credited for the prevailing peace in northern Uganda.
At 54 Ochora has died young but his mark on Ugandan and Acholi politics will forever remain indelible. He’s survived by a widow Florence Ochora and six children.
“He was a true patriot who served his people with pride. He was a clear minded politician who did not fail to amuse each time he addressed a complicated subject,” said Stephen Oola a lawyer and Transitional Justice expert.
Throngs of people lined several kilometres from Gulu town to welcome his body back home to be buried at his home in Obiya along the Gulu- Kitgum road.
A week before his death, while conceding defeat in the latest political setback in his attempt to recapture the Gulu district Chairmanship he talked of farming and accepting a Presidential appointment, if any came, but he had a condition: it had to be near home (Gulu). The late Col. Walter Ochora was born in 1957 to Auma Ejera and Kennery Odoch. Many times he said on radio that he did not see his father because “Amin threw him in the waters of the Nile”.
The artist, man of bites and quotes, soldier, coup announcer and former ‘President’ is
David Otti (1940 -2011)
Otti, a former Uganda Cranes player and coach passed on at Case MedCare Hospital on March 3. He was 71. Medical reports showed he succ
umbed to pulmonary embolism. The year before, his amputated in four-year battle with diabetes. He is remembered for coaching all the top three Ugandan clubs; Kampala City Council FC, Express FC, and SC Villa in Uganda and Kenyan side Gor Mahia (1981-83), Somalia’s Mogadishu Municipal Council (1987-1990) and Rwanda’s APR (1995-96). He was a former also National Council of Sports (NCS) general secretary.
Maj. Gen. Francis Nyangweso (1939 -2011)
Nyangweso who died on Feb. 15 was president of the Uganda Olympic Committee for 29 years until 2008. He was the East African boxing champion from 1955-1962 and carried the Uganda flag at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and won gold at the 1961 Hapoel Games. He was born on September 29, 1939 in Busia, eastern Uganda.
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Rest in Peace, Amen!