Ogwal: The Iron Lady who sought to build consensus

Cecilia Ogwal’s instructions, in what turned out to be her last public comments that whoever calls her from her hospital bed in India does so after “first finish [ing] your tears” offers a measure of her personality.

“Sharp, courageous, articulate, witty and solid, she became Uganda’s Iron Lady and except for Winnie Mandela, there was no other like her on this continent,” Joseph Ochieno, who is currently jostling for the presidency of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) with Jimmy Akena and Peter Walubiri, says of the erstwhile Dokolo Woman lawmaker who passed away on January 18.

Ogwal, who will be laid to rest in Kole District today, was this past week held up as a unifying force by lawmakers, who eulogised her during a special sitting.

Hanifa Kawooya, the district woman representative of Sembabule, who—like Ogwal—was recently medevacked to India, remembered Uganda’s Iron Lady praying for her after she had returned home. It did not occur to Ms Kawooya that Ogwal was stricken by cancer because the latter was an intensely private person.

Abed Bwanika, a two-time presidential candidate, who now represents the constituency of Kimanya-Kabonera, called Ogwal a patriot, holding that the “nationalist” description does not accurately capture her essence. 

The descriptor reflects so much of the horror of the times, with fervour, curiosity, and raw power of exclusionist strains.  It also—in a sense—awakens the politics of cultural sub-nationalism that birthed UPC following tireless efforts from Apollo Milton Obote and Abu Mayanja.

In the late colonial period, Ganda sub-nationalists tackled big questions about independence, identity and survival but provided no answers. Or at least they were accused of not. 

It was in July of 1959 that leaflets from someone identifying as ‘Son of Muzinge’ started to drop in and around Kampala. The leaflets persisted in their urging that products remotely associated with the colonial administration be boycotted.

“If I inspect shops again and find Brook[e] Bond Tea, I will sentence the offender to death,” one leaflet read, adding that bottled beer was also a no-no.

Fast forward to 1969, seven years into Uganda’s independence, a pageant is organised to popularise Brooke Bond Tea. Ogwal takes the first runner-up accolade. A historical inaccuracy in the mainstream media would for years perpetuate the assumption that Ogwal not only won the pageant but that it was a Miss Uganda beauty contest. The fallen Dokolo Woman lawmaker was gracious enough to correct the inaccuracy.

These and several other attempts to capture a correct account of events possibly owed to Ogwal’s faith. 

While eulogising the Iron Lady on the floor of Parliament, junior Trade minister David Bahati described her as a “prayer warrior.” The Ndorwa West lawmaker added that Ogwal actively participated in organising multiple National Prayer Breakfast ceremonies.

“In London, I would host and manage her official itinerary. Church was a must, how I came to know of Elim Pentecostal Church in Camberwell,” Mr Ochieno recalled, adding, “My most robust conversation with her was whether or not we should participate in the 1996 NRA election charade and on strategy, then I was citing Bangladesh where the Opposition had taken to protests following an apparent rigged elections and, after three months of impasse, fresh elections were held with key reforms and they won.”

This unique attribute of Ogwal—to reach out across the political divide even when she robustly disagreed on principle—won her acclaim both in life and death.

In the House, she was known to throw her weight behind many minority reports; yet she was careful enough not to sever ties with the majority. This consensus building not only kept her politically relevant, but also turned her martial house into a home.