The Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Uganda Anita Among has revealed that Speaker Jacob Oulanyah was flown of the country over unrevealed health complications.
“I wish to inform the country that the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has been unwell for the last two weeks. During that period he was receiving medical attention from Mulago National Referral Hospital,” Anita told parliament.
She said the Medical Experts at Mulago in consultation with his personal doctors, decided to refer him for further specialized medical attention out of the country.
Oulanyah was last week flown out of the country to an unrevealed health facility in the United States (U.S).
The speaker went aboard a chartered Uganda Airlines plane which took off on Wednesday to Iceland and later landed at its final destination in the USA.
Eagle Online has also learnt that the August House paid Shs 1.7bn for Oulanyah’s chartered flight to the USA. The Observer reported that Parliament allegedly paid $500,000 to Uganda Airlines on Wednesday, a slight discount off the $563,000 market price to fly the speaker and about 10 others on the 252-seater plane.
According to sources the speaker is suffering from abdominal related complications which started last year.
“The speaker has been on and off duty and this is not the first time that he is receiving medical attention from a US based health facility. He was last year admitted to Mulago hospital before going for further medical management,” the source said.
Oulanyah serves as the Speaker of the 11th Parliament of Uganda. He was elected to that position on 24 May 2021, after defeating the former Speaker Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga.
He served as Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan parliament, from May 2011 until May 2021. He is also the member of parliament representing the Omoro County constituency, Omoro District, Acholi sub-region, in Uganda’s Northern Region.
