- Akena p'Ojok
Akena p'Ojok is a former influential
Uganda n politician who held various government positions in the 1980s, including Minister of Power, Posts and Telecommunications. He was a prominent figure of Uganda National Liberation Front/Army that helped removeIdi Amin and was involved in the power struggles that followed.Akena p'Ojok, an ethnic
Acholi , was born in Pupwonya, a rural community nearAtiak trading centre inKilak County ,Gulu District .During the rule of Idi Amin, p'Ojok fled to
Kenya , settling inNairobi , where he became the chief engineer of the Kenyan Electricity Utility companyFact|date=February 2007. Together withYonna Kanyomozi ,Ephraim Kamuntu ,Richard Kaijuka and other prominent Ugandans living in exile, p'Ojok founded theSave Uganda Movement (SUM), one of the anti-Idi Amin organizations that subsequently united under the banner ofUganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) with groups having a reciprocal aim who, together withTanzania n armed forces, removed Idi Amin in 1979.During the
Uganda-Tanzania War , p'Ojok was a leading figure in the military coalition between Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA, the military faction of UNLF) andTanzania People's Defence Force , which resulted in Amin's overthrow. He later became the Vice President of UNLFFact|date=February 2007, which "de facto" ruled Uganda immediately after Idi Amin. Akena p'Ojok was chosen to become thePresident of Uganda afterYusuf Lule (who was President after Idi Amin) however, followingThe Moshi Conference ,Godfrey Binaisa was instead appointed as PresidentFact|date=February 2007.When political parties were being formed in preparation for the 1980 General Elections, p'Ojok vied for leadership of
Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM)Fact|date=February 2007, butYoweri Museveni was instead chosen for the post. Akena p'Ojok then joinedUganda People's Congress (UPC), and becameMember of Parliament forGulu West Constituency, having beaten his main competitor, Anthony Ocaya of the Democratic Party. Uganda People's Congress won the elections (which were bitterly contested). Akena p'Ojok became the Minister of Power Posts and Telecommunications, and later held various positions as Cabinet Minister in the government of UPC'sMilton Obote .In 1985, Obote's government was deposed in a coup led by
Tito Okello andBazilio Olara-Okello . In 1986, in the aftermath of the chaos which followed the coup, Yoweri Museveni'sNational Resistance Army , which had been fighting against Obote's government for six years, seized power. Akena p'Ojok declined several personal offers from Museveni to join his governmentFact|date=February 2007 and in 1987 was arrested and charged with treason for allegedly amassing weapons to overthrow the government. There is no record of his being found guilty of the charges, but he was sent to prison. In 1990 he was released by presidentialpardon of Museveni, after which he left Uganda and settled in theUnited Kingdom .In early 2005 a congregation of
Acholi elders approached p'Ojok and asked him to represent the Acholi inUganda People's Congress , an offer which he declinedFact|date=February 2007.Since the 1990s, Akena p'Ojok has lived with his wife and children on the outskirts of
London .References
* Nyai, Dick. "The Origins of the Uganda
Luwero War". Pdf Paper Submissions [http://www.grandslacs.net/doc/3781.pdf] .
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