Relatives of Michael Odong, the fallen former commissioner in charge of Agro Chemicals in the Ministry of Agriculture have said they have given up on pushing the government to find out the cause of his death.
Mr Odong, 53, was found dead on Sunday last week at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands as he waited for a connecting flight to Geneva where he was scheduled to attend a workshop on the regulation of Chemical use in Agriculture.
According to reports issued by the Netherlands Embassy in Kampala last week, Odong was reported to have died of natural causes. The statement was not specific on exact cause of death.
The deceased whose remains was flown back to Uganda over the weekend was buried yesterday at his ancestral home in Kirombe Custom corner village in Layibi Division, Gulu municipality.
Dr Ben Watmon, a brother to the deceased while speaking to hundreds of mourners who turned up to bid farewell said the family members have decided to let go off the idea of probing could have exactly led to the death of the late Odong.
“I want to clarify that when I received my brother’s remains on Friday, there were two documents accompanying his body. One was in English and what I read from it states that he died of natural cause yet no postmortem was carried,” Dr Watmon said.
Dr Watmon added that as a Doctor, he knows very well that when a person dies, a postmortem has to be carried to help to ascertain the cause of death yet it wasn’t the case with the late Odong.
“As family members we have decided to close the case, we are not demanding for anything from the government about his death, he is already down there and for us who are still out, we shall continue with our lives,” Dr Watmon said.
Mr Okot Samuel, another brother to the deceased however appealed to the government to ensure speedy payment of gratuity and terminal benefits saying it will help in catering for the late Odong’s children, dependents and widow.
Mr Okasai Opolot, the Director Crop Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture who represented the permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture eulogized the deceased saying he was a hard worker.
”The deceased was a much disciplined officer committed to his work; he was frank in making decisions and accepted assignments without questions. As a Ministry, we are celebrating his life,” Mr Okasai said.
He however said despite no postmortem results on Odong’s death, “We as the government received his body the way it was brought.”
The late Odong joined the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries in 1991 where he served and rose to the ranks of an assistant commissioner –Agro Chemicals in 2013 a position he served till his death.
The deceased is survived by two biological children, three dependent and a widow.
1 Comment
‘Relatives Of dead Ministry of Agriculture Official Give Up On Probe; Posted by Denis Otim November 01. 2016’
This is for sure not quite a well thought of headline.
It sounds as if an opening article on some dead dog and not a very important and respectable human being.
The report gives the impression that he is now gone so does not really matter need for careful word choice.
Much as I may not personally know the late Commissioner but his demise touched all of us as a very big loss of one of our quality men and an outstanding professional. As such I wish to further my personal condolences to the family, relatives and friends of the late Mr Michael Odong during this very difficult time.
The Acholi Times is doing a great and commendable job of giving Acholi some means to voice the society feelings and concern to the world. Therefore reports such as the death of our loved ones is always sensitive and needs to be reasonably sensible across all class of audiences.
However it is appreciable that Acholi Times has continued to support and in deed is encouraging the local scribes to put important issues on the paper.
John Ojara