By Mulengera Reporters
Last Sunday, hundreds of friends and well wishers travelled from all over the country and converged at Mzee Nathan Okwakol’s country home in Chelekura village outside Pallisa Town Council. They were here to join ex-Obote II Minister Nathan Okwakol and his wife Prof Mary Okwakol to celebrate their 50 years of marriage (aka Golden Jubilee).
The guests came from all corners and parts of Uganda and they included notables like Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, Minister Chris Baryomunsi, Minister Hellen Asamo, Supreme Court’s Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, ERA CEO Eng Ziria Waako, former First Lady Miria Kalule Obote and Busoga Katukiro Joseph Muvawala just to mention a few.
The thanksgiving service was presided over by Anglican Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu who was flanked and aided by several Anglican bishops from both Busoga and Bukedi dioceses. Mary hails from Busembatia in Busoga, and Nathan from Pallisa in Bukedi diocese for which he is the Chancellor (which makes him chief lawyer for the diocese). Several MPs attended as did veteran Congressmen who came from Nathan Okwakol’s party UPC.
Ambassador Olala Otunnu and former Deputy IGG George Bamugemereire (husband to Justice Catherine) spoke on behalf of Nathan’s friends as a team of Namagunga OGs also fondly spoke about Prof Mary Okwakol.
Olala Otunnu was Guild President at Makerere University where Nathan and Mary met as eminent student leaders in the 1970s and started a romantic relationship that evolved into a marriage during whose sustenance of 50 years, very successful children and grandchildren have been birthed.
Ambassador Otunnu relieved those Makerere memories and told the cheerful crowd of more than 1000 guests how Mary was Chairperson for Mary Stuart Hall at the time Nathan too headed Lumumba Hall. Otunnu recalled making both of them key pillars of his guild administration at that time when it was risky to be an illustrious student leader at Makerere University which Idi Amin’s military government considered to be the bastion of anti-regime activism. That he deliberately chose these two to be key pillars of his guild administration because he knew them to be strong and courageous.
Otunnu likened the Nathan-Mary marriage union to the hypothetical one between UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcker and Mao of China which they used to joke about while growing up. He said the two are strong-willed personalities as was the case with Mao and Thatcher.
Otunnu added that, Mary Okwakol has always been a natural leader and a woman of great conviction just like Thatcher was.
“It was remarkable that she chose comrade Nathan for a marriage partner because these two share many attributes including having great love for people and they actually love each other very much. And I’m proud to have been part of the circumstances under which their love story started. I was right there at Makerere and I deliberately chose them to be pillars of my guild administration,” said Olara Otunnu who has remained UPC his entire life just like Nathan Okwakol.
Reflecting on comrade Nathan, as he repeatedly called him, Otunnu said that Okwakol was famous for being the best English speaker at the Makerere University of his time. He noted that even when he is an Itesot, the veteran Ugandan lawyer speaks flawless English.
He likened his English-speaking prowess to that of Otieno Isiagi of Bukedea. Otunnu said he was proud of the post-campus success his Makerere contemporaries registered over the years-including Joe Bbosa, Dr. Kazungu, Alfred Ofada from Kenya, Constance Kategaya Byamugisha and others.
“All of these wonderful comrades were part of my guild administration. And I’m happy to see how far Comrade Nathan and Mary have come building on what started at Makerere.” Otunnu prayed that the two great Ugandan districts of Pallisa an Bukedea continue to produce great English speakers for Uganda who can even be more fluent than Nathan Okwakol and Isiagi.
George Bamugemereire recalled doing clerkship as a young law student at Nathan Okwakol’s law firm in Kampala and how he was always proud of being mentored by a man who was celebrated and accepted as being one of the most eloquent speakers Uganda ever produced. Bamugemereire said that while growing up, Nathan Okwakol’s eloquence was always likened to that of Milton Obote and Julius Nyerere. He also referred to the Mwirian and Budonian roots he proudly shares with Mzee Nathan Okwakol.
He thanked Nathan Okwakol for illustrating to the rest of men in Uganda that it was possible to get married to “these high-flying women” and still be successful at marriage. He subsequently ceded the microphone to former Makerere Vice Chancellor Prof Kirya to also say something whereafter Olara Otunnu, who had to fly in from Sudan to come and be there for comrade Nathan, got to speak. Like Nathan Okwakol, George Bamugemereire too is married to a high-flying spouse namely Catherine Bamugemereire who is a consequential Justice of the Supreme Court of Uganda.
THE OKWAKOLS SPEECH:
In his speech, Mzee Okwakol, who was overjoyed and manifested this joy through the excellent dance strokes he kept pulling each time the couple changed clothing and returned to the large and well decorated reception area, credited his long life and perfect health to Godliness and regular physical exercise. He also credited forgiveness.
Speaking from his palatial residence, complimented by a well-trimmed large compound, Mzee Nathan Okwakol thanked his guests for the long journeys they had trekked just to be there for him. He also thanked comrade Olara Otunnu for the nice words he truthfully and generously said about him and Mary.
Unlike Nathan whose speech was brief, Prof Mary Okwakol (being a former teacher and lecturer) spoke for longer. She thanked Otunnu for accurately narrating all he knew and saw from the very inception of their love relationship. “We also thank you for being very supportive from the very beginning up to this day.”
She said she has no doubt that Nathan would have had second thoughts had his best friends and parents advised against taking her up to be his spouse. She recalled all they had been through with Nathan and thanked God for their respective parents who didn’t object to either her or Nathan “otherwise we wouldn’t be here today.”
She thanked Nathan for choosing her and made it clear that even today, they would choose each other-and not anyone else. She thanked the respective parents for raising both of them well. She rightly described Nathan as a handsome man and he too said the same about her.
Prof Okwakol, who previously lectured at Makerere and Gulu University before being deployed to found Busitema University as the founding Vice Chancellor, thanked the Central government of Uganda under both Museveni and Obote for giving them a platform to serve and contribute to the nation building of Uganda. She also thanked the siblings of Nathan and hers for always being very supportive of their marriage union.
She concluded by reading out names of the event organising committee members and thanked them for their role in making her day memorable. These included Chairperson Christine Alupo who is Director currency affairs at Bank of Uganda; Makerere’s Dr. Richard Balikowa, Makerere Sr Warden Peter Mwanje, NCHE’s Arthur Muguzi, Isaac Woide, Richard Tibwita, Grace Kitui, Sam Otuket, Joe & Rachel Okwalinga. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
