Lango honour Engola through song

A renowned local artiste, Mr Joshua Alunyu, a resident of Abok Sub-country, Oyam North, Oyam District in Lango Sub-region has composed a song to honour the life of minister Charles Okello Engola.

The deceased, who has been the State minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, was shot dead by his bodyguard at his home in Kyanja, a Kampala suburb, on Tuesday morning.

The 23-year-old Alunyu commonly known by his stage name as Arab Kop, needed just two hours in a recording studio to compose the song.

“I was born in the bush because of the LRA war, but the late Engola was the one who fought for us to come back home. Things only normalised after he fought for us, there was no food and no education, but he came and gave us all these things. It took me two hours to do the entire song,” he told this publication in a phone interview.

In his song, Arab Kop praised Engola, calling him a hero of the Lango Sub-region.

“A rooster crowed as dawn approached, we thought it was dawn, little did we know “Macodwogo” was no more. Okello Engola was no more, he was no more. The man that brought peace into the Lango Sub-region is no more. The one who sent the LRA parking is no more. Okello Engola is gone. The one who made us have a peaceful sleep in our homes is no more. Rest in peace our hero. Our father, you are a hero rest in peace. Our grandfather, you are our hero, please rest in peace……,” Arab-Kop sang in the mother tongue.

He continued with praises: “He [Engola] worked hard to ensure peace returns to the Lango Sub-region. Even now that we sleep peacefully in our houses, we owe it to him. We pray that you rest in peace our fallen soldier. We are mourning, your clan mourns. The entire Northern Uganda mourns. Who will now take care of the children you have left behind, oh God, take care of us. Who will take care of these grandchildren, oh God take care of us. We are all in pain. Lord of the heavens, take care of us....” 

The minister was named Macodwogo, meaning the “fire has returned’’ by the people of Lango after his devoted fight against the LRA.

Mr Fredrick Peter Ocaya, a teacher at St Katherine Senior Secondary School in Lira District, narrated the events that led to the name Macodwogo.

“Kony and his army had taken over the Minister’s land. He then requested leave to come and fight Kony. He was given so many soldiers, but he chose to go with a few. Even when he reached home, we were told he would leave behind his soldiers, go into the bush alone and return home with rebels who had surrendered. Out of fear, Kony and his people disappeared from Lango. People now started making fire and telling stories as usual, peace had returned to the land,” he said.

Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said investigations into the shooting are ongoing.