Bishop Patrick Okabe (NRM) is a Member of Parliament for Serere County, Serere district.

Since being elected in 2016, Okabe has barely appeared on the floor of parliament but our Parliament snippers have in several occasions seen him in the corridors of Parliament discussing ‘how to make more money’ with a few of his fellow Teso MPs.

Most schools in Serere are in dilapidated state but the area MP has never shown any concern about this matter.

One of the schools, Nananga community Primary School is in a worrying state with the school having only one pit latrine used by both teachers and pupils, the school lacks desks, chalkboards and classrooms.

Worrying state of one the schools in Serere

The school was started by community members but later taken up by government.

Okabe won the 2016 elections beating UPC’s Opio Joseph Linos but his victory was nullified on account of non-compliance with the electoral laws by the Electoral Commission (EC).

Mr. Opio, who lost to Okabe petitioned court challenging the election results. He contended that the Electoral Commission and the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), flouted the law to approve the nomination of Mr Okabe.

During the hearing of the petition, Mr Opio argued that Mr Okabe did not possess the requisite academic qualifications for a Member of Parliament and that the elections were not conducted in accordance with the law.

He also said the EC denied his supporters the right to vote due to deliberate omission of his photo, name and party symbol on the ballot paper.

It was reported that Okabe used different names on his academic papers during his Senior Four at Ayer Secondary School where he was referred to as Ocen Oliba Patrick and during nominations as Patrick Okabe.

However, court of appeal overturned the decision on grounds that Mr. Opio did not have the capacity within which to challenge Okabe’ s victory since there was no evidence that he was validly elected as a candidate to contest in the concluded elections.

Profile

Okabe 61, sat for PLE in 1972 at Atiira Primary School and UCE in 1976 from Ayer College.

He has an Advanced Diploma in Bible Theology Pentecostal Bible Training Centre.

In 1992, he acquired a Bachelors degree in Theology from Pan African Christian University.

He also holds Masters degree in Divinity.

In Parliament, he sits in the Committee On Rules, Privileges And Discipline, and Committee On Gender Labour And Social Development.

Written by sam.opio730@gmail.com