When sacrifice means Nothing: The tragedy of Lango politics

By Hon. Ishaa Otto Amiza | Former MP, Oyam County South | Independent Activist

Choosing a title for this piece wasn’t easy. It had to carry the weight of a painful truth, one we, the people of Lango, often avoid but urgently need to confront.

While reflecting on Lango’s tumultuous political journey, a friend recently called and urged me to tune in to Radio Voice of Lango, owned by our own Hon. Felix Okot Ogong.

The TalkBack program, hosted by Elvis Ajwika (the station manager), was ablaze with heated debate. The topic was the suspension of the NRM elections for district chairpersons in Lira and Amolatar.

I listened quietly. Caller after caller, mainly NRM cadres voiced strong opposition to Hon. Sam Engola’s continued leadership as NRM District Chairperson in Lira. Their preferred choice was Hon. Agnes Linda Auma, and their justification was “Engola is too old, out of touch, outdated.”

But here’s the comical irony: while they trashed Engola for overstaying, they showered praises on President Museveni and Al-Hajji Moses Kigongo who’ve held on to their positions at the national level for over three decades!

According to the callers, Museveni is untouchable because he fought to bring the NRM to power. And Kigongo is a loyal grandfather of the revolution.

So let me ask: Is aging only disqualifying at the sub-county or district level? Very funny indeed.

Note that I’m no fan of Engola’s ideological style of NRM politics. But I am a sympathizer of his struggle. Because if there’s one person who fought a lonely, thankless war to bring the NRM gospel to Lango, it was Sam Engola.

Lango, remember, was the heartland of UPC. We opposed Museveni and the NRA with unmatched fury, especially after the 1980s Luwero ambushes on the Lamdogi stretch, where my own uncle, Bob Odongo Naenda, a forgotten patriot was killed.

The wounds of that era still sting. The Karimojong raids, the disappearance of our political figures and the deep-rooted suspicion of Museveni’s government made Lango a no-go zone for NRA sympathizers.

But Engola stood firm. Alongside George Ewai (who became RDC), Ojeda Obaa and later Beatrice Lagada, he (Engola) dared to challenge the UPC-dominated political landscape of Lango. He mobilized. He preached. He took blows—literal and political — for daring to say the words Museveni and NRM in a region that treated both like curses.

And yet today, Engola is being cast aside by NRM cadres who only discovered the party when it was already safe and mainstream. The same man who took political bullets for Museveni in Lango is now being shot down with words of betrayal from within the house he helped build.

Sadly, this isn’t unique to NRM. It’s a chronic illness across all political veins in Lango.

Take, for example, the late Hon. Cecilia Atim Ogwal. She and her team under the UPC-Ad hoc banner, led by Rev. Yokoyadi Opollo Apello fought tooth and nail to restore multi-party democracy.

At a time when Dr. Obote was in exile, Cecilia and Dr. Y. Okullo Epak took the enormous risk of opposing the NRA government, often clashing both in words and bullets with Engola’s NRA-aligned mobilizers.

While Engola was working to bring Museveni in, Cecilia was fighting to revive the political pluralism of UPC. Strange as it sounds, both heroes on opposite sides of the battlefield were later abandoned by the very people they fought for.

Cecilia, who re-registered the UPC party in 2005 with Counsel Peter Walubiri, was unceremoniously pushed out of UPC primaries to make way for Obote’s son, Jimmy Akena, and the Lusaka circle of elites. With no apologies. No recognition. No dignity.

She didn’t cry. She didn’t beg. She simply moved to FDC and served her people until her death in 2023. (May Her Soul Rest in Peace.) Others like Ben Wacha, Omara Atubo, Ojok B’Leo, and Dr. Epak walked away and never returned to UPC.

And now, history repeats itself. Engola Sam, who once suffered for standing with NRM in Lango, is now the subject of blackmail and mockery from NRM members who found comfort where he once found hostility.

I am not against leadership change. I support healthy competition and generational transition. But what worries me deeply is the ingrained ungratefulness in our society.

We do not honor sacrifice. We do not protect legacy. We consume our own heroes and spit them out the moment they’re no longer useful for our short-term ambitions.

The result is now that Lango is orphaned. We have no elder statesmen to guide the young. No one to mentor or mediate. So what do our young politicians do? They run to Museveni to arbitrate our internal conflicts, begging him to clean up the messes we should handle ourselves.

Lango, oh Lango, kite gi moro tye! Have we ever truly valued those who sacrificed for us?

A region that forgets its past has no compass for the future. If we cannot honor those who opened doors for us, whether UPC or NRM, then we are doomed to a vicious cycle of betrayal, division and political confusion. Let us not be the generation that buries its heroes without a proper farewell. Let us not be the people who mock sacrifice and celebrate mediocrity.

We must do better. For Lango. For ourselves. For the future.