EALA eulogises Oulanyah, describes him as a "great speaker"

The Speaker of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Martin Ngoga has eulogised former Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah, as "a great leader who had a great potential."

Ngoga described Oulanyah, who was a member of the East African Speaker's Panel as a great loss to the region.

Ngoga is in the country to among other things facilitate the summit of heads of state in the region, who will formally admit the Democratic Republic of Congo into the East African Community, raising the number of members to seven

"At the age of 56, his political potential as a citizen and a leader has been cut short but in the short time he lived, he achieved a lot for the country and the East African region," Ngoga told journalists

He said that he was looking forward to working with Oulanyah but unfortunately it has not happened.

"We thank the leadership of parliament and the government for the effort to save the life of Jacob. You did your best to get him treated but unfortunately, the timing was not ours," he said .

Ngoga congratulated Anita Among and Thomas Tayebwa upon their election as speaker and deputy speaker respectively.

He said that the Ugandan parliament has uniquely supported the agenda of EALA.

Among pledged to continue promoting the spirit of togetherness, something that Oulanyah was passionate about.

"We dearly miss Jacob. He has been an icon, very honest and a knowledgeable man. He knew what he wanted to do in this institution. He wanted to build this institution. As a country and as Parliament, we did everything humanly possible to save him," Among said.

Oulanyah died in Seattle, United States of America (USA) on Sunday, 20 March 2022. Oulanyah’s body is expected to arrive in Uganda on April 1.