By Mulengera Reporters
This Saturday, hundreds of powerful people from Kampala descended on the quiet village of Chelekura outside Pallisa Town Council in Pallisa District to attend the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Dr. Nathan and Professor Mary Okwakol who have been married for 50 years counting from 1974.
These are great people who God has blessed and kept together as husband and wife for 50 years of very productive marriage during which they have produced and nurtured very successful children and grandchildren. A UPC diehard, Sr Counsel Nathan was a Minister in Obote II (the very reason Miria Obote attended his big day) and Mary has been a distinguished educationist for Uganda where she lectured at Makerere University before moving on to found Busitema University.
She currently serves as the Executive Director for National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) which is charged with regulating Universities and provision of higher education. Their children are equally very successful professionals serving their country in different capacities chiefly in the private sphere.
Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu, who was the chief celebrant at the thanksgiving, was one of the many big people at the event which had Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga, eminent judges like Supreme Court’s Catherine Bamugemereire and Ministers like Ruth Chris Baryomunsi and several others. The Director for LDC was also there.
Thousands of guests comfortably sat and enjoyed the day’s proceedings inside the Okwakols’ palatial residence compound, a few kilometres outside Pallisa Town Council. There was enough to eat and drink for everyone. The decoration, the choir and the entertainment was excellent too.
Speaking at the glamorous event, Dr. Kazimba thanked God for the good health and material success he has given to the Okwakols and also reflected on challenges generally facing the marrieds in Uganda and the world generally.
He said that, from what he knows as a Church Minister of repute, its true a lot of today’s married people, including Christians, regret their choice of spouse and if given chance, they wouldn’t give second chance to their current husband or wife.
Before launching a glamorous magazine that was prepared to chronicle the couple’s marriage journey, Dr. Kazimba reflected on his own personal story and struggles as a married man. He revealed how the devil tried to use his own biological sisters to get him into committing adultery in order to get a girl child. That together with Margaret Nagayi, with whom he has been married for the last 40 years and 11 months, they only managed to give birth to boys.
Kazimba explained that this failure to get girls frightened his own biological sisters who got him into private talks where they proposed to secretly get for him some other woman to have sex with so as to try harder and get girls too. “They said we can do this secretly and no one will get to know about it. And their concern was selfish because all they cared about was that if they died, they wouldn’t have heirs. They said supposing we die today or tomorrow, who will be inheriting our place as heir?”
The Archbishop told the congregation that he stood firm and ensured he never committed adultery against his Nagayi who he said is the only woman he has ever slept with in the last 40 years of their marital union.
He said he is aware that a lot of Christians are going through similar challenges but prayed upon God to strengthen them to stand firm and resist temptation to become adulterous. He said that he and his wife balanced the equation by opting to adopt four girls who are now their foster daughters as opposed to committing adultery.
Dr. Kazimba urged the congregation to emulate the Okwakols and to always celebrate their marriage anniversaries at whatever stage as opposed to waiting for 50 years. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
