Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Former UPC Iron Lady commonly known as Imat Cecilia in Lango, Cecilia Ogwal is dead. The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among has confirmed the death of the Dokolo Woman MP who for long served as a Member of Parliament for Lira Municipality
Cecilia Ogwal was also a member of the Constituent Assembly and she also served in the Pan-African Parliament. The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among in a message posted on X formerly Twitter said, “ It is with a heavy heart and pain that I announce the passing of our Mother, Mentor, and role model Imat Cecilia Atim Ogwal, the Honourable Member representing the Women of Dokolo District. I send my sincere sympathies to her dear husband and the family, friends, the people of Lango, and colleagues! May her soul find eternal rest”
Cecilia was in the league of some of the prominent parliamentarians like Rhoda Kalema, Joyce Mpanga, Miria Matembe, Winnie Byanyima and Rebecca Kadaga , Specioza Wandiira Kazibwe, Betty Okwir among others. Cecilia Atim Ogwal was married to Lameck Ogwal with whom she had seven children.
Cecilia Ogwal served as the Assistant Secretary General at the Uganda People’s Congress. During that time, she openly opposed the monolithic movement system of the NRA which had banned political parties by the infamous article 269 of the 1995 Constitution. Her activism was more pronounced during the Constituent Assembly, It was around that time that she was nicknamed “UPC iron Lady”
She chaired the Presidential Policy Committee of the Uganda People’s Congress. She was one of the politicians who formed the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPFC) which fronted the late Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere as a presidential candidate in the 1996 elections. At the time, the late former President, Apolo Milton Obote who was living in Lusaka Zambia had asked the Uganda People’s Congress not to participate in the 1996 elections. But Ogwal using her position as the Chairperson of the Presidential Policy Commission called a meeting at Uganda House in Kampala where she advised that they should contest in the election despite the challenges they were likely to face with state machinery. After the 1996 elections, Cecilia Ogwal was elected to the Sixth Parliament of Uganda. The Uganda People’s Congress also had several MPs including the late Agrey Awori, Late Dr. Okulo Epak, Omodi Okot, Ben Wacha among others. Dr. Obote sacked her from the post of the chair of the Presidential Policy Commission.
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