Joel Francis Emona, a brother to the late Jacob Oulanyah, has narrated that the Speaker of Parliament breathed his last, with a heavy heart since he could hardly talk but he was responding with signs and heavy tears.
Addressing journalists at the home of the deceased in Muyenga on Monday night, Emona said his brother’s consciousness was very active but his voice had already gone.
“From the time he was taken to the US, we missed him but an opportunity came and they asked us to come over and see him, good enough we found him alive. He could hardly talk, he just responded with lots of tears and was grieving in deep pain. When we reached him in the hospital, I introduced myself, the Chief Justice and Hon Mao, but he just responded with heavy tears, he really cried, I think he wanted to talk to us but he could not, someone tried to tell us what he was talking but it was in pain and he was just crying,” he said.
Emona disclosed that on the following day, they went back to check on him but he was not responsive and the doctor told them that he is likely to lose the battle.
“The doctor prepared us, and we got on the board to come home and prepare the children and the entire family. By the time I was getting on the flight, I was not hopeful, I knew the worst was coming because we were told that he will probably not live long. The bad news came when the Hon Minister told me that we have lost the fight. I broke down and shaded tears alone on the flight.”
He added that on reaching the hospital, the deceased thought they were going back home with him alive. “He wanted to come home, he really wanted to get back to Kampala, actually in his mind, he thought we were going to bring him back, all along was saying what time are we living (in deep grief). However, he was in deep pain on his sickbed with heavy tears. What I think pained him much, he wanted so much to talk to mzee but he failed because of technology since Mzee is in the village and I think he was very upset with that because they were very good friends.”
Emona added that after knowing that his elder brother had died, he called their father and prepared him for the worst news.
Speaker Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah died over the weekend in Seattle, United States of America where he had been receiving specialized treatment since last month.
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