Aggrey Siryoyi Awori was pronounced dead on 5 July 2021 at a private hospital in Naalya, Kampala after battling a long illness. He has died aged 82.

“He has been sick for about a month and I have been in touch with him until today when his wife, Thelma told me that he has died,” said Peter Oguttu, a close family friend.

He is survived by a wife Thelma Awori, 6 adult children and grandchildren.

The late could be described as a Ugandan economist and politician who once served as a Minister for Information and Communications Technology-ICT from 16 February 2009 to 27 May 2011.

In the cabinet reshuffle on 27 May 2011, he was dropped from the cabinet and replaced by Ruhakana Rugunda.

He is however mostly remembered for challenging president Yoweri Museveni to the presidency in 2001 where he came third after polling 1.41% of the vote.

He would later ditch the opposition to join the ruling government.

In 2007, after serving his 5 years as the Samia-Bugwe North, Busia District MP between 2001 and 2006, on Uganda People’s Congress (UPC)ticket, Aggrey threw in the towel and joined the National Resistance Movement-NRM to work for President Yoweri  Museveni.

Aggrey however left a mark as a wise and vocal Legislator in Parliament during his time of reign.

Background

Awori was born on 23 February 1939, in Budimo Village, Busia District, near the Ugandan/Kenyan border as the number 10 of 17 children.

2 of his siblings have gone down in the history of East Africa, one as the 9th Kenyan vice-president Arthur Moody Awori and Mary Okelo, the first woman in East Africa to head a Barclays Bank branch.

His parents were Canon Jeremiah Musungu Awori, a pioneer African priest of the Anglican Church in East Africa, and Mrs. Mariamu Odongo Awori, a nurse and community teacher.

He went to  Nabumali High School in Mbale District and King’s College Budo, in Wakiso District, both in Uganda.

From 1961 to 1965, he studied at Harvard University on a scholarship. The first year he took nuclear physics, but then switched over to political economics.

Sports Background

While at Harvard, Aggrey became the first person in heptagonal track history to win three events – the long jump, high hurdles, and 60-yard dash.

He also ran on the victorious mile relay team that tied the heptagonal record.

By the time he graduated from Harvard, Awori held three outdoor and five indoor school records.

He also represented Uganda in the 110 meters hurdles at the 1960 Summer Olympics and the 1964 Summer Olympics but failed to win any medals.

Career

In 1967, Awori was appointed the first local director of Uganda Television (UTV).

 In 1971 Awori was jailed for two months after Idi Amin’s coup, because during Amin’s first coup attempt he didn’t broadcast a speech Amin gave, after lying to him they were live on air.

He went into political exile in Kenya only to return in 1979, when Idi Amin was overthrown.

He then became Ambassador to the United States, until being transferred by Tito Okello Lutwa in 1985.

He served as Uganda’s Ambassador to Belgium from 1985 until 1987 when he was dropped by Yoweri Museveni.

 In 1993, Awori met with Museveni in New York and then was elected to the Constituent Assembly to make the Constitution and as a member of parliament.