The life and times of Cecilia Ogwal, former Miss Uganda

Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, rushed to the deceased's residence in Bugolobi where she passed her condolences to Mzee Lameck Ogwal, the husband of the late Ogwal.

"It is a pity that she has passed on. We condole with the family, people of Lango and Uganda. Some of us the young ladies joined Parliament because we used to admire Hon. Cecilia Ogwal; the way she was articulate and the way she would discuss issues concerning this country. We have lost a role model," Among said.

She was accompanied by the Parliamentary Commissioner Mathias Mpuuga and other Members of Parliament.

The Secretary General of Lango Parliamentary Group Samuel Opio Acuti, who is also the Kole North County MP and a family member, eulogised the late Ogwal as the "barometer and compass of Lango."

"When I was going to stand for Kole North Constituency, it was in this sitting room that she gave me the blessings. I last talked to her about two weeks ago. We have lost an iron lady, a vocal and strong-hearted woman," he said.

Bugweri County Member of Parliament Abdu Katuntu also acknowledged that it is in Cecilia Ogwal's sitting room in Bugolobi that his political journey started 30 years ago.

"I wouldn't be a politician but this sitting room changed me from being a lawyer to a politician... Hon. Cecilia was a great woman who would assert her authority," Katuntu said.

Mpuuga remembers Ogwal as a rare breed of politician.

"Cecilia was a household name. Every time she picked a microphone, she was speaking country and its people. A rare breed of politician because you would not be ashamed of what she would speak," he said.

Ogwal was one of the longest-serving legislators, having served since 1996. At the time of her death, she was a member of the Committees on Physical Infrastructure and Budget.

She also served as Uganda's representative to the Pan African Parliament (PAP) and as Parliamentary Commissioner.

Born on December 6, 1946, Cecilia Ogwal was a politician, businesswoman, and management consultant.

She was born in Dokolo District and attended local schools in Uganda. In 1967, at the age of 21, she was admitted to the University of Nairobi to study for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. She graduated from Nairobi University in 1970. She also held a Certificate in Human Resources Management from the Uganda Management Institute.

She held two other certificates; one in Christian-Based Values from the Haggai Institute, Singapore, and the other in Public-Private Partnership, from Australia.

In 1969, at the age of 23, she won the Miss Uganda contest.

Cecilia Ogwal was a member of the parliamentary Committee of Physical Infrastructure in charge of overseeing and covering policy matters related to Lands, Housing, Urban Development, Works and Transport, and Physical Planning. She was also a member of the budget committee.

From 1979 until 1980, Ogwal worked at the Uganda Embassy in Kenya as the Liaison Officer for Returning Ugandan Refugees. From 1980 until 1981, she worked as the Operations Manager at the Uganda Advisory Board of Trade. In 1982, she was one of the founders of the Housing Finance Bank, working there until 1984. She served as the Chairperson of Uganda Development Bank, from 1981 until 1986.

She became involved in Ugandan politics, serving as the Acting Secretary General of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) from 1985 to 1992. In 1994, she was part of the Constituent Assembly which drafted and promulgated the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. She remained a high-ranking official in the UPC political party until 2004. During the 2006 parliamentary elections, she lost her Lira Municipality seat to Jimmy Akena, the son of UPC founder Milton Obote.

In 2011, Ogwal contested and won the Women's Representative seat for the newly created Dokolo District. This time she switched political parties and ran as a full member of the Forum for Democratic Change party.

Details of the funeral arrangements will be announced later, according to Parliament.