Oulanyah’s Death and the Media in Uganda Today

REMAINS of the late Speaker of the 11^th Parliament of Uganda, Rt. Hon. Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah arrived back home today, this Friday 1^st of April. Oulanyah 56 died some 12 days ago at a US Specialized hospital of Seattle in Washington City.  He was also MP for Omoro County, Omoro district in Northern Uganda.

This magnanimous politician from Acholi land will be laid to rest next Friday 8^th at his ancestral home in Ayom-Lony village, Lalogi Sub-County, Omoro district. Oulanyah will enjoy a decent send off because of the position he held in the Country but also because of his national influence.  He is among other things credited for turning northern Uganda yellow and championing a national reconciliation agenda for the Country. Oulanyah envisioned a Uganda where the ruling and the opposition political parties work together. He believed that leaders ought to put interest of the Country ahead of those of their political organizations.  

The media has been crammed with both sentimental and cynical stories around Oulanyah; his suffering, his eventual demise and the politics of it.  This is going to dry up as soon as his casket is lowered into the ground. I also hope that Oulanyah’s burial will close the chapter of incomprehensible media stories about him.

The media today is quite terrifying than never before. They stretch one event until its original taste is altered. For a good story, they keep squiggling on it until it's blurred. They will drag the story from all ends until it turns chaotic, then it’s repaired a little and suddenly shut down forever.

In Uganda today, it’s no easy to come by stories that do deeper surgery on critical national issues. Somewhere else, the death of such a giant could have evoked media to do thorough analysis of previous speakers by citing significant moments and making valuable contrasts. These would help citizens to understand where we came from as a Country, where we stand and how tomorrow looks like.

Unfortunately our media has become so casual; they no longer trace historical facts in order to appreciate the present and guide on the future. In brief, most published stories are not well conjugated with archived facts.

Yes, in the case of Oulanyah’s sickness and death, our media really played phony. At first, they ran conjectures about the speaker’s condition, which impelled idle souls to protest against Government decision to save the speaker's life. This was unpatriotic to say the least.  

The media went on to do repair services as soon as the speaker was pronounced dead on 20^th March. This time, every publishing house lionized the deceased for his; intellect, devoutness, benevolence and professionalism.   Along the way, again the stories got mixed up with stones and mud. The burial budget was depicted unpleasantly; it demonized the innocent MPs from greater North where Oulanyah comes from.

Nonetheless, Oulanyah was celebrated by many Ugandans. People from; Churches, Mosques, Schools, Health centers, sporting arenas, entertainment and many more will miss Lanywen (Oulanya’s pet name). His supporters in Acholi tagged him so, I guess because of his intrepid character. A man who never gives up easily, a man who changes tactics until success is attained.

Unfortunately, death doesn’t die. We curse it every day, but death is immortal. So we can never celebrate death, but life. As the country goes on with the celebration of Oulanyah’s life for the next couple of days, I call unto the media to do more by taking advantage of archived information to weave better stories instead of limiting news to political statements and strange occurrences. May God grant Jacob everlasting life.

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