The Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo has said it was “super wickedness” for NUP supporters in the Diaspora to stage protests against Speaker Jacob Oulanyah’s flight to the US for treatment, saying the Kabaka of Buganda has also benefited from a similar arrangement.
The Chief Justice who was part of a delegation that travelled to Seattle -Washington and checked on Oulanyah before he breathed his last on Sunday, was speaking during a night vigil for the fallen speaker at his home in Muyenga.
Jacob Oulanyah was flown on a chattered flight at a cost of UGX1.7BN to Seattle in the United States for treatment, a move that stirred up a group of NUP supports living in the Diaspora -most notably Baganda who staged protests over the neglect of Uganda’s health system saying that instead the funds should have been invested in hospitals back home.
In a short video that has since went viral on social media, CJ Owiny Dollo faults the protesters who criticized use of public funds on Oulanyah’s treatment but did not demonstrate when their ethnic leader (Kabaka) was flown on a presidential jet to seek treatment in Germany even when he was not entitled.
“You! you! you who were demonstrating, your ethnic leader was transported on a presidential jet to Germany using public funds. He was not entiltled! You did not demonstrate. Is it because Oulanyah is an Acholi? Is it because he doesn’t speak your language? Only a wicked person can fight a person who is fighting for his life. Only a super-wicked person can fight the dead” an enraged Dollo stated.
The CJ’s statements rekindles tensions between the North and South as witnessed immediately after the demonstrations in US when Acholi parliamentary caucus on the 9th/Feb/2022 held a press conference and offered to refund 2BN public money used in taking Oulanyah abroad for treatment. Some MPs were also heard cursing that no NUP leader will be allowed to access their region or cross Karuma Bridge again.
The Acholi parliamentary caucus MPs also demanded to know why “among the very many Ugandans who are referred for medical treatment, it is only Oulanyah who has been targeted by NUP.” The MPs wondered; “Could it be that this reaction is because he’s not from the Buganda region”
The demonstrations in their view was seen as a sign of ill faith, malice and bad intentions towards the Rt. Hon Speaker.
In August 2021, just a few weeks after his coronation anniversary, the Buganda Kingdom monarch, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi was flown to Germany for specialized treatment for his alleged allergies. However, this newspaper could not independently verify whether the Kabaka of Buganda indeed travelled on a presidential jet as alleged by the Chief Justice.
A staunch supporter of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), Jacob Oulanyah’s body is still in the US and expected to be returned to the country over the weekend before a state funeral is held in honor of his service.
Follow the link to watch the VIDEO: