BY CHRISTOPHER OKIDI
October-November last year, I made a research project on why political coalitions and cooperation(s) generally fail in Uganda. I put up a team that managed to reach 34 of Uganda’s top political elite and entities with the exception of President Museveni and Bobi Wine, whose Secretaries General: Todwong and Rubongoya respectively we interviewed. Among the 34 respondents we interviewed, Cecilia Ogwal’s perspective stood out. The convergence of her lived experience and deep appreciation of Uganda’s consociational culture and history, which we captured verbatim using AI greatly enriched our report titled; Politics in Hybrid and Predominantly Agrarian Context: Why Political Coalitions Fail in Uganda. Needless to say that she was also co-principal of the impregnable 1996 Inter Political Forces Cooperation (IPFC), which emerged out of the National Democratic Caucus in the Constituent Assembly.
Determined to give Museveni a bloody nose in the 1996 Elections, Cecilia Ogwal and the entirely male-dominated team of firebrands, which included among others; Yona Kanyomozi, Adonia Tiberondwa, Professor Patrick Rubahayo, and Professor Ogenga Latigo fronted Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere for presidency.
The IPFC wave, which many young people then including Norbert Mao rode on to go to parliament nearly sent President Museveni home packing. Museveni was only rescued by NRM’s crude propaganda machinery that hoodwinked Buganda. Besides the display of skulls in places like Kikusya in Luweero, NRM tricked Cecilia Ogwal in the middle of the campaign trail while at Mbale that Obote wanted to meet her in Nairobi. She heeded on account of loyalty to her leader.
She would later be detained at the airport and immediately radios broadcasted that she was on her way to meet Obote, who they said was already in Busia, coming back to Uganda. Illogical as it sounded, Buganda believed and shunned the IPFC. Ssemwogerere lost in Buganda, including in his own constituency as a result. The North, however, went ahead and gave the IPFC a block vote. The IPFC also garnered substantial votes in the east but was counterbalanced by Buganda and the west, handing Museveni an edge.
In the end, Cecilia and the IPFC team she superintended lost to President Museveni. Although they lost the battle, they won the war. Today, her IPFC playbook has inspired many political coalitions and attempts, including the nascent United Forces of Change. Even Buganda that shunned them in 1996 is now the epicenter of the anti-Museveni struggle. The region has borne the brunt of Museveni’s long stay in power and its once
vibrant coffee economy is now an existential shadow of its former self.
The IPFC also scored in terms of political reconciliation. It should be remembered that in 1980, the North shunned Ssemwogerere. Thus, in the IPFC configuration, UPC was meant to be DP ticket to open up the North, while DP in return was UPC’s ticket to end its stigmatisation in Buganda.
A classic win-win with valuable notes for latter-day coalitions. Moreover, Dr Ssemwogerere despite his 1986 Nabingo Agreement with Museveni was accepted by everyone as the presidential candidate. This coalition to date is considered the best ever seen on Uganda’s political turf.
Cecilia’s biographical context is instructive in understanding her consociational political mind and approach. She always took pride in representing Dokolo: her birthplace and a melting pot of Uganda’s first political coalition. In her own narrative, Kabaka Mwanga of Buganda, Rwot Awich Abok Lutanyamoi of Acoli and Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro formed the first potent anti-colonial coalition there. Awich
was then arrested and incarcerated at present-day Kololo, a place later named after his lamentation in Luo “Adong Kololo”, meaning “I have been abandoned alone.”
She also joined politics immediately after graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1969 three years after the collapse of the UPC/KY alliance and two years, shy of Amin’s violent takeover of government. As someone who was very active in Uganda Students’ Association and the East African Students’ Association, she immediately joined the anti-Amin struggle. She only missed out on the Moshi Conference on account of being pregnant that year. Cecilia is no doubt the mother of political coalitions and consociationalism in Uganda. We stand by Mzee Lameck and family.
CECILIA BARBARA ATIM OGWAL* [1946 – 2024]
You have fought the good fight, you have finished the race and you have kept the
faith. May your soul rest in peace Honourable. In 1969, at the age of 23, she won the Miss Uganda contest. Former Women Mp Dokolo District, Cecilia Ogwal has been in Parliament since 1996. ✓She was born on 12 June 1946 in Aduku, Kwania County, Dokolo District in
Northern Uganda. She has died at 77 years. ✓She has been a staunch Catholic. ✓She has been a politician, businesswoman and management consultant. ✓She attended Ngeta Boarding Primary School – Lira, Sacred Heart Secondary -Gulu and Gayaza High School.
✓In 1967 at the age of 21, Ogwal became one of the first four women in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) to enrol in a Bachelor of Commerce program at the University of Nairobi, where she graduated in 1970. She also holds a Certificate in Human Resources Management from what was then called the Institute of Public Administration, currently, Uganda Management Institute. Holds a certificate in Christian Based Values from the Haggai Institute, Singapore. Holds a certificate in Public Private Partnership, from Australia.
1979 – 1980, As the Liaison Officer for Returning Ugandan Refugees, Ogwal worked at the Uganda Embassy in Kenya.
1980 – 1981, she was employed by the Uganda Advisory Board of Trade as the Operations Manager.
In 1982, she helped create Housing Finance Bank and stayed on as one of its first
employees until 1984.
1981 – 1986, she presided as Chairperson of the Uganda Development Bank.
1985 – 1992, She started involving in politics in Uganda and held the position of
interim secretary general for the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).
In 1994, she participated in the Constituent Assembly, which created and adopted
the 1995 Ugandan Constitution.
She remained a high-ranking official in the UPC political party until 2004.
During the 2006 parliamentary elections, she lost her Lira Municipality seat to
Jimmy Akena, the son of UPC founder Milton Obote.
In 2011, Ogwal contested and won the Women Representative seat for the newly
created Dokolo District after converting to FDC.
Cecilia Ogwal got married to Lameck Ogwal in 1970 at Christ the King Church.
She is a mother of seven biological children and many adopted ones.
✓She has been a member of parliamentary Committee of Physical Infrastructure in
charge of overseeing policy matters related to Lands, Housing, Urban development,
Works and Transport, and Physical Planning.
✓She has also been a member of the budget committee.
In 2019, she got serious wrangles with the late Elly Tumwine for allegedly
threatening to harm her
✓Hon. Cecilia Ogwal, the Dokolo District Woman MP died on 18th Jan 2024. She
succumbed to cancer in an Indian Hospital
Mr Okidi is a Scholar and Former DP National Youth Leader
Mr Okidi is a Scholar and Former DP National Youth Leader.
