Omoro council calls off tribute for ex-Speaker Oulanyah’s father

OMORO - The Omoro District Council has cancelled plans to pay its last respects to Mzee Nathan Okori Adiyo, the father of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, due to logistical and financial constraints.

The 10th Omoro District Council had earlier scheduled a sitting for today, Monday (March 30), to honour the deceased, but the event has since been called off following consultations with the family.

According to a meeting reportedly convened by the district Speaker, Richard Bongomin Luganya, on March 27, 2026, at the Omoro Council Hall, the decision was reached after it emerged that the arrangements were not feasible for the family.

"Following our discussion yesterday, March 27, after the Council sitting, consultations were made with the family of the late Mzee Nathan Okori. And I want to report to you that the requests you (the bereaved family) put forward yesterday are not workable.

Accordingly, the Council sitting that was to take place on Monday, March 30, 2026, is now called off. The District will organise a posthumous council sitting on a later day when possibly the circumstances are aligned,” speaker Luganya stated in a communique to councillors on March 28, 2026.

Meanwhile, Francis Joel Emuna, the son of the late Okori Adiyo and nephew to Omoro MP Andrew Ojok Oulanyah, had earlier communicated plans for the council sitting.

According to Emuna and MP Ojok, the family had deemed it appropriate for the Omoro District Council and councillors to formally pay their last respects to the late Okori.

Available information indicates that the late Mzee Okori served as a councillor in the then Acholi District Council in the 1960s, representing Awere-Lalogi. The district was later split into East and West Acholi, with headquarters in Gulu district in 1974.

The deputy speaker of Omoro District Council, Robinah Ayamo, confirmed on March 29, 2026, that following the cancellation of the council programme, the burial arrangements would proceed as planned by the family.

Brief programme released by bereaved family

On Monday (March 30), the casket with the deceased's remains will be taken from the mortuary at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor for a requiem mass at Christ Church Urban in Gulu city starting at 10:00 am.

The body will then proceed to St Mark Church at Ajuri, near the ancestral home, for a brief service starting at 4:00 pm.

The casket will later be taken to the final burial home in Ayom-lony village for a night vigil.

It will then be taken to St Mark Church, an Anglican Church at Ajuri Ayom-lony village that was supported and completed by the late Okori's son, Jacob Oulanyah.

Burial will take place on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, at Ayom-lony village, Omoro County, starting at 11:00 am. All three services will be officiated by the Anglican Church.

Emuna confirmed that the 8th Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda, Rt Rev. Godfrey Loum, will lead the services.

“If there shall be no tight schedule, the Anglican Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev. Dr Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, is also expected to be here to grace the burial service,” Emuna added.

Mzee Nathan Okori Adiyo died on March 20, 2026, at St Mary’s Hospital, Lacor, in Gulu city after succumbing to respiratory complications, according to the family.

His death coincided with the same date his son, former Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah, died on March 20, 2022, in Seattle, Washington, in the United States.