GULU – A solemn cloud has descended over the Acholi sub-region and the nation following the passing of Mzee Nathan Okori Adiyo, father of the late former Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah.
The 97-year-old patriarch breathed his last on Friday, March 20, 2026, at St Mary’s Hospital Lacor, where he had been admitted with respiratory complications just days earlier.
In a twist that has stirred deep emotion across the country, Mzee Okori died on the exact date his son passed away four years ago. Oulanyah died on March 20, 2022, in Seattle, United States, where he had been undergoing specialised treatment.
The news was first shared by Omoro County MP, Andrew Ojok Oulanyah, who described the moment with poignant simplicity, noting that the family patriarch had “rested on the same day that his son rested.”
From Parliament, Speaker Anita Annet Among led the tributes, informing colleagues and the country of the loss, while Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa described the development as “very sad indeed.”
Mzee Okori, a revered elder in Omoro, lived a quiet but impactful life, standing as the foundation behind one of Uganda’s most prominent political figures. Those close to the family often spoke of a deep, unbreakable bond between father and son—one that, in death, has taken on a haunting symmetry.
As the country reflects on this rare and emotional coincidence, attention now turns to the family for burial arrangements, expected to be announced in due course.
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