The Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi has advised Uganda Police Force to counsel Mr Nathan Okori who has just lost his son, former Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah, instead of summoning him for questioning.
“Police should be professional in the way they do their work. Jacob Oulanyah’s father needs counselling to come to terms with the loss of his son, not police summons. At this rate, Police spokesperson Fred Enanga may end up summoning Jacob Oulanyah from the grave,” he told the press on Tuesday.
At Oulanyah’s burial in Omoro District last Friday, his father publicly repeated allegations that he first made on March 20, that his son had told him that he had been poisoned.
“I am not mourning in vain. I want to state clearly that Jacob Oulanyah was poisoned. He told me. The doctors tried to deal with the poison. It affected his health so badly that he could not recover,” Mr Okori said at the burial in Acholi, according to a simultaneous English language translation rendered by Democratic Party President Norbert Mao.
A day later, in Kampala, former State Minister for Tourism, Mr Godfrey Kiwanda, while featuring on Capital FM radio’s Capital Gang talk show on Saturday, in corroboration of Okori’s narrative said Oulanyah had separately told him that he was poisoned likely around the time of the May 2021 Speaker vote.
In both accounts, the then Omoro County Member of Parliament appeared not to have disclosed the person who allegedly poisoned him, the reason and place.
With the poison claims persisting, police that previously barred debate about the matter, on Monday announced that they were investigating the matter and planned to summon Mr Okori, MP Olanya as well as Bobi Wine.
Other individuals that detectives plan to interact with, according to police spokesperson Fred Enanga, include; Chris Baryomunsi, Aruu North MP Santa Okot, Dokolo South Mp Felix Okot Ogong, popular northern Uganda musician Bosmic Otim and unnamed bloggers.
It remained unclear if police intended to summon them as witnesses or suspects, but Mr Baryomunsi said Enanga and Kiwanda should stop dragging his name in the drama of poison.
“I know Mr Kiwanda appeared on a radio talk show and mentioned my name in his submissions, and I want to warn him and his friend Enanga to stop mixing me in the drama of poison,” he said.
Dr Baryomunsi in a Sunday interview with Daily Monitor said there is no basis for additional investigations into what killed Oulanyah because the post-mortem findings were conclusive.
