Voters declare Bishop Okabe ‘Sole Candidate’ after Effective Representation

By Nathan Ngobi

Upon his election as Serere County MP, Bishop Patrick Okabe was on the verge of losing his seat even before setting foot in the august house.

This followed a petition by his political rival Linos Opio, who petitioned court seeking the nullification of Okabe’s victory on grounds that the clergyman did not possess the required academic qualifications.

However, the people of Serere will have their gods to thank for guiding a panel of three judges led by Justice Steven Kavuma, which quashed Opio’s petition and confirmed Okabe the duly elected Member of Parliament for Serere County.

And like goes the adage that a bad beginning makes a good ending, Okabe has not let his voters down. He has proved that his tough start was just a test to sharpen his new journey as he has gone on to establish himself as one of the most effective MPs of the Tenth Parliament.

To appreciate their God-sent leader for his noble service to them, the people of Serere County recently declared Hon. Bishop Patrick Okabe as their sole candidate for the 2021 general election on the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party ticket.

In an interview with The Second Opinion website, voters from Apira, Kateta, Olio T/C, Olio Sub County and Serere revealed that they are amazed by what Okabe has done for them in just the period that he has spent in Parliament, the reason they want to extend his leadership so that they can enjoy uninterrupted effective representation.

“They say a true leader comes from God and indeed basing on what our MP has done for us within this short time, we now prove that he was indeed god-sent,” said Abraham Opolot, a resident of Kyere Sub County.

Opolot added that while the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme has been dominated by complaints from would-be beneficiaries in many parts of the country, the people of Serere have no complaints at all because Okabe has used it to empower his people to satisfaction.

Records indeed show that while he gave sheep worth Shs5m to Muslim women in Serere, he has extended over 750 piglets to other women with homesteads and in total 1500 goats have been given to women in the constituency to date.

Currently, a drive is on in which the Bishop is encouraging youth in his constituency to form cells of 20 people who are then required to identify an income-generating project for funding before 2021.

Bishop Okabe has also constructed a nursing school, St. Patrick Nursing and Midwife Training school in Kyere. The facility that will be opened next year is intended to make nursing training affordable to locals in Serere and even beyond.

Recently, Teso region was hit by famine following a severe drought that even necessitated food aid from government. To guard against a repeat of such situation in the future, Bishop Okabe has since built a food storage facility in Ochapa town, Kyere Sub County. In the facility, residents will keep surplus food that can be used during times of lack to fight hunger.

A visionary leader fights to improve the lives of those he leads for posterity. It is for this reason that, irked by consistent poor grades at primary level, the MP chose to build capacity of the teachers in the constituency.

Reports show that beginning with the 2017 Academic year, Bishop Okabe organized refresher trainings for P7 teachers and one headteacher from each of the 57 primary schools in Serere. These are then equipped with modern teaching techniques and also loaded with tips on how to prepare children to for PLE exams.

On top of this, he facilitates about 300 PLE candidates from all over Serere for an examination seminar that always takes place at Sabiri P/S every year to fine-tune pupils for the final exams.

The efforts have paid off because ever since then there has been remarkable improvement at primary education level. Records for instance show that, previously ranked perennially among the worst performing districts, Serere is now among the best in Teso region.

 And to ensure continuity for the students excelling at primary level, Okabe set up a Shs33m educational fund through which he sponsors 90 students for secondary school education, with 42 slots specifically gazetted for the education of the girl child at boarding schools of their choice in Serere district. Each of these students also gets a mattress to help with school requirements.

And to improve access to better health care, the legislator bought a Shs70m ambulance that locals can use as transport to better health centres and referral hospitals. Occasionally, the health centers are always supplemented by health clinics though which Bishop Okabe procures specialist doctors to treat complicated ailments at his own cost.

This is on top of seven (7) tents with a 200-seater capacity each which locals use for communal events such as burials and parties among other functions. These are usually transported to desired venues using a Shs35m truck that Okabe specifically bought for the same purpose.

Meanwhile, to harness the morals of his voters, the Bishop donates generously to the religious institutions including the church and mosques. Records prove that in the last three years, Okabe has donated over 2200 iron sheets and 1300 bags of cement to churches, mosques and schools, while last week alone he donated 30 iron sheets to Magala Agule Catholic Church and 35 iron sheets to Ojara Church of Uganda in Olio Serere County.

Factfile

Hon. Bishop Patrick Okabe is a son to Mzee Rev. Abilet Misilam of Okodok village in Kateta Sub County Serere district. He defeated FDC strongman Steven Ochola in the 2016 general elections and he is currently NRM chief whip for Teso region.