Simon Toolit Aketcha, a rival to Andrew Ojok Oulanyah and member of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), has died. Toolit Aketcha was a former MP. He contested in the Omoro byelection to replace former Speaker Jacob L’Okori Oulanyah but lost to Oulanyah Jr.
The news of Toolit’s demise was confirmed by his former political rival Ojok Oulanyah. Ojok described Toolit’s death as leading to ‘a dark day in Omoro’ and referred to the fallen politician as a ‘gallant’ son of Omoro.
“It is a dark day in Omoro! We have lost one of our gallant sons and former MP, Hon. Simon Toolit Akecha! Hon. Toolit was the MP for Omoro County between 2006 and 2011 and was a candidate in the recent by-elections. May his soul rest in eternal peace!” announced Ojok Oulanyah, son to former speaker Oulanyah.
He was pronounced dead at the St Mary’s Lacor Hospital on Monday, January 16, 2023, afternoon. Toolit had been admitted at the health facility for two days.
Toolit was previously a member of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), a party on whose ticket he challenged Oulanyah in the 2016 election but lost. Toolit ran as a NUP candidate in the Omoro byelection that followed the death of Jacob Oulanyah March 2022. (Read Story Here).
Had Toolit won the byelection to replace Jacob Oulanyah last year, voters in Omoro county would be thinking of the second byelection in a space of just one year.
But Ojok Oulanyah beat Toolit in the byelection held in May 2022, according to results released by the Justice Simon Byabakama-led Electoral Commission (EC). (Read Story Here).
