A sea of humanity turned up on Saturday 19th February, 2022 to witness the burial of the Iteso Cultural leader Papa Emorimor Augustine Kadugala Lemukol Osuban.
That the cultural institution has no official residence thus he was buried at his ancestral home in Serere district where he was born on 12th August, 1934 to the late Isirairi Okalebo and Toto Amoding who were peasant farmers in Kumi district and belonged to the Atekok Icumadeka clan of the Iteso.
He married Toto Agnes Akaliat Ogwang with whom they were blessed with children. She served as a teacher from 1965 to 1976 when she switched to banking where she worked until retirement.
In 1998, Augustine Lemukol Osuban was elected unopposed by over 2000 delegates drawn from Teso Uganda and Teso Kenya during the delegates conference held in Soroti, to be Emorimor Papa Iteso.
He was installed as the Cultural leader of the Iteso on 30th April 2000 at the function officiated by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
The family of Papa Iteso led by his daughter Christine Apio Osuban thanked all the doctors, management and staff of Soroti regional referral and Mulago National referral hospitals who worked tirelessly to try to save their father’s life.
While eulogizing her father, she said Papa was intelligent, humble and loving father who loved all his children equally and had a great sense of humor. He emphasized the importance of family and its structures in society. He wanted families and clans empowered to promote togetherness, peace and human dignity.
Meanwhile Bishop Joseph Eciru Oliarch of Soroti Diocese who conducted the mass for the late Cultural leader said Papa has been a blessing to Ateker people, a man of peace, and an icon of unity who understood the meaning of the word Emorimor.
The bishop further described him as a God fearing man, who was conscious of the fact that some one day he will find himself face to face with God. He loved his faith and treasured the Eucharist and Mass.
The Minister for Gender Peace Mutuuzo thanked the people of Teso within Uganda, the neighboring countries and the Diaspora for mourning with the family of the late King and according him a befitting send off. She said the King’s death is a big blow to the family, the people of Teso and the country at large.
She thanked President Yoweri Museveni under whose leadership NRM government reinstated traditional and cultural institutions in 1993.
She said Papa Emorimor was key in promoting Teso cultural values, norms, traditions, believes and more importantly promoting the Iteso dialect. She added that his works have been documented for posterity while giving him honour and respect. Mrs. Mutuuzo says the Cultural leader worked tirelessly to promote education, social welfare and economic development among others.
“Some ideas might be running in some people’s mind about succession, in Africa it’s not appropriate to discuss the succession of a person before he is laid to rest” She said as a ministry in charge of traditional and cultural leaders, she will come back to provide guidance to the process in not later than two weeks.
While responding to calls about the construction of a palace for Emorimor, a matter that has been raised in Parliament in a number of occasions including previous week, the gender Minister said “the institution of the traditional and cultural leaders act 2011, provides that government shall make a contribution towards the construction of a palace to a standard to be determined by government.
In a condolence message read to the mourners by the Vice President Major retired Jesica Alupo, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni said “ during his life time and reign, he displayed a zeal to work and develop not only his Kingdom but the entire Ateker region. He was an advocate of peace, unity, moral and cultural values and had a cordial relationship with the ruling government. A matter the president says set the Teso Cultural leader apart as a no ordinary Chief but a humanitarian advocate envisaging humility among his people.
The president further said he was a great agriculturalist and an educator who always sought for progress, growth, prosperity and the zeal to attract projects to Teso region.
The main responsibility of Emorimor is to nurture all Iteso to ensure that the value system observed by Iteso is protected and promoted. He ensures that unity and harmony prevails among the Iteso and their neighbors.
Both the leading contenders in Kenya’s August 2022 elections Deputy President Dr. William Ruto was represented by Mary Emaase and UDA special envoy and former MP Budalangi Ababu Namwamba while the ODM Party leader Raila Odinga was represented by Hon. Oku Kaunya MP Teso North.
Others present included Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi MP Nambale among others.
