The Acholi region has mourned the passion on of Mr Vincent Opio Lukone, who passed on Saturday morning.
Mr Lukone, 62, passed on from Nakasero hospital in Kamapala where he had been admitted. The cause of death was reportedly a brain tumor. He had recently been flown to India for treatment.
Condolences have been pouring in with many describing the late Lukone as man who led a humble life and who despised bribery and corruption.
In a Facebook post on his wall, the President General of the Democratic Party (DP), Norbert Mao, described the deceased as a man of integrity.
“Gulu and Uganda mourns again. Vincent Opio-Lukone, Deputy Head of Public Service is dead! Rest in peace man of integrity,” Mao posted on Saturday shortly after the death of Lukone.
One of Lukone’s family member, Fredrick Lukone also posted: “Today death has robbed us of our father, uncle, grandfather, a friend and a shade we all ran to when the sun was hot. Mr. V.Opio Lukone went to be with Lord this morning. May his soul Rest In Peace!”
Lukone was a senior civil servant who joined civil service in the 1980s and served in various government Ministries before he was appointed as Permanent Secretary in 1998.
He was later posted as Secretary to the cabinet before being moved as Deputy Head Public service in a recent reshuffle by President Museveni.
He is also the proprietor of Gulu Churchill Courts Hotel, in Laroo division, Gulu Municipality.
He survived with one wife (widow) and seven children.
Lukone will be laid to rest at his ancestral home in Atega, Bobi Sub County, Omoro County in Omoro district on Wednesday. A requim mass will be held this morning at Mbuya Churhc. Tomorrow his body will be brought to Gulu for another mass at Gulu Cathedral. Burial will be on Wednesday at 12:30 pm, according to a programme seen by Acholi Times.
Lukone’s death comes barely a month after the sudden death of Maj Gen Julius Facky Oketta, the deputy head of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), a government program tailored to improve household income through agricultural activities who succumbed to heart related complications early this month.
