# Aggrey Awori > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aggrey_Awori > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Aggrey_Awori.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggrey_Awori > Source revision: 1326294002 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Ugandan economist and politician (1939–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Hon | name = Aggrey Awori | image = Aggrey-awori.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|2|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Uganda | death_date = {{death-date and age|5 July 2021|23 February 1939}} | death_place = [Naalya](/source/Naalya), [Kampala](/source/Kampala), Uganda | alma_mater = {{Ubl | [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts), [political economics](/source/political_economics)) | [Syracuse University](/source/Syracuse_University) ([MA](/source/Master_of_Arts), economics) }} | occupation = Economist, politician | years_active = 1967{{ndash}}2011 | known_for = Politics | networth = | title = | spouse = [Thelma Awori](/source/Thelma_Awori) | relatives = [W.W.W. Awori](/source/W.W.W._Awori) (brother)
[Moody Awori](/source/Moody_Awori) (brother)
[Mary Okelo](/source/Mary_Okelo) (sister)
[Susan Wakhungu-Githuku](/source/Susan_Wakhungu-Githuku) (niece)
[Judi Wakhungu](/source/Judi_Wakhungu) (niece) }} '''Aggrey Siryoyi Awori''' (23 February 1939 – 5 July 2021) was a Ugandan economist, politician and Olympic hurdler, who served as Minister for Information and Communications Technology in the [Cabinet of Uganda](/source/Cabinet_of_Uganda) from 16 February 2009 to 27 May 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/673643 |title=Museveni Swears In New Ministers |access-date=6 April 2015 |date=5 March 2009 |first=Henry |last=Mukasa |newspaper=[New Vision](/source/New_Vision) (Kampala) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413225108/http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/673643 |archive-date=13 April 2015 }} Prior to that, he represented Samia-Bugwe North, [Busia District](/source/Busia_District%2C_Uganda) in the Ugandan Parliament from 2001 until 2006. Awori was an outspoken opposition [member of parliament](/source/member_of_parliament) for the [Uganda People's Congress](/source/Uganda_People's_Congress) (UPC) political party. In 2007, he abandoned the UPC and joined the ruling [National Resistance Movement](/source/National_Resistance_Movement).{{cite web|title=Mbabazi Pleads for Awori |access-date=6 April 2015 |date=24 December 2007 |last=Egessa |url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/603500 |first=Hajusu |newspaper=[New Vision](/source/New_Vision) (Kampala) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414005819/http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/603500 |archive-date=14 April 2015 }} ==Background== Awori was born on 23 February 1939, in Budimo Village, [Busia District](/source/Busia_District), near the Ugandan/Kenyan border as the tenth of seventeen children. 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. Aggrey's siblings include [W.W.W. Awori](/source/W.W.W._Awori), a freedom fighter and Member of the [Legislative Council of Kenya](/source/Legislative_Council_of_Kenya) in pre-Independence Kenya,{{Cite book |last=Moody |first=Awori, Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH8zswEACAAJ |title=Riding on a Tiger |date=2020-02-27 |publisher=Moran Publishers |isbn=978-9966-34-991-0 |language=en}} the ninth [Kenya](/source/Kenya)n vice-president [Moody Arthur Awori](/source/Moody_Awori){{cite web|access-date=6 April 2015|publisher=Daily Kenya BlogSpot|url=http://dailykenya.blogspot.com/2012/04/dr-arthur-moody-awori-uncle-moody-ebs.html|title=Dr. Arthur Moody Awori "Uncle Moody" EBS|date=20 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419085555/http://dailykenya.blogspot.com/2012/04/dr-arthur-moody-awori-uncle-moody-ebs.html|archive-date=19 April 2015|url-status=live}} and Mary Okelo, the first woman in East Africa to head a [Barclays Bank](/source/Barclays_Bank) branch and the founder of the Kenya Women Finance Trust, Kenya's women only bank.{{cite web |title=Dr Elizabeth Mary Okelo |url=https://sustainabilitysummit.afrasiabank.com/speaker/dr-elizabeth-mary-okelo/ |website=AfrAsia Bank Sustainability Summit |access-date=3 June 2021 |archive-date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230212090020/https://sustainabilitysummit.afrasiabank.com/speaker/dr-elizabeth-mary-okelo/ |url-status=dead }} Mary is also the founder of Makini Schools, a leading school chain in [East Africa](/source/East_Africa).{{cite journal |last1=Bauer |first1=Andrew |last2=Brust |first2=Frederick |last3=Hubbert |first3=Joshua |title=Expanding Private Education in Kenya: Mary Okelo and the Makini Schools |publisher= Columbia Business School Research Archive |journal=Chazen Web Journal of International Business |date=Fall 2002 |url=https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/researcharchive/articles/87 |access-date=11 July 2021}} Awori owned an urban home in [Busia Municipality](/source/Busia%2C_Uganda) and a country home in neighboring [Bugiri District](/source/Bugiri_District).{{cite web|url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/mobile/Detail.aspx?NewsID=632367&CatID=387 |title=What's With Aggrey Awori's Generosity? |access-date=6 April 2015 |date=2014 |newspaper=[New Vision Mobile](/source/New_Vision) (Kampala) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414005341/http://www.newvision.co.ug/mobile/Detail.aspx?NewsID=632367&CatID=387 |archive-date=14 April 2015 }} ==Education== Awori attended [Nabumali High School](/source/Nabumali_High_School) in [Mbale District](/source/Mbale_District) and [King's College Budo](/source/King's_College_Budo), in [Wakiso District](/source/Wakiso_District), both in Uganda. He was the Canada House Prefect at King's College Budo. While at King's College Budo (1959 to 1961), Aggrey was selected among a few others for elite military officers training at Sandhurst Military College in the United Kingdom. His father Canon Awori, however, rejected the idea of his talented son joining the military.{{Cite book|title=Uganda: Building of a Nation|publisher=Vision Group|year=2012|isbn=9789970447008|location=Kampala|pages=275}} From 1961 to 1965, he studied at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) on a scholarship. The first year he took [nuclear physics](/source/nuclear_physics), but then switched over to [political economics](/source/political_economics).{{Cite web|title=Aggrey Awori: Gifted orator, master of all trades|url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/lifestyle/reviews-profiles/aggrey-awori-gifted-orator-master-of-all-trades--3464672|first=Emmanuel |last=Mutaizibwa|date=7 July 2021|website=Daily Monitor|language=en}} 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, tying the heptagonal record in the hurdles and setting the mark in the dash. He also ran on the victorious mile relay team that tied the heptagonal record.{{Cite web |title=Awori: An Olympian of great distinction {{!}} Uganda |url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/sports/athletics/awori-an-olympian-of-great-distinction-3464464?view=htmlamp |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=www.monitor.co.ug}} By the time he graduated from Harvard, Awori held three outdoor and five indoor school records. He also represented Uganda in the [110 metres hurdles](/source/110_metres_hurdles) at the [1960 Summer Olympics](/source/1960_Summer_Olympics) and the [1964 Summer Olympics](/source/1964_Summer_Olympics), but failed to win any medals.{{cite Sports-Reference | url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/aw/aggrey-awori-1.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418011126/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/aw/aggrey-awori-1.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=18 April 2020 | title=Aggrey Awori Olympic Results | accessdate=17 June 2017}} Awori has a [Master of Arts](/source/Master_of_Arts) in economics from [Syracuse University](/source/Syracuse_University) in the U.S.{{cite web | url=http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Where-is-Aggrey-Awori-/-/688334/2437392/-/6n3ebyz/-/index.html | title=Where Is Aggrey Awori? | access-date=6 April 2015 | date=1 September 2014 | newspaper=[Daily Monitor](/source/Daily_Monitor) (Kampala) | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224183232/http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Where-is-Aggrey-Awori-/-/688334/2437392/-/6n3ebyz/-/index.html | archive-date=24 December 2014 | url-status=live }} ==Career== In 1967, Awori was appointed the first local director of [Uganda Television](/source/Uganda_Television) (UTV).{{cite web |last1=Bwire |first1=Jobby Naseke |title=Biographytt of Aggrey Awori |url=https://jobbynasoko.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/biography-of-aggrey-awori/ |website=Jobby Naseke Bwire |date=5 April 2011 |access-date=3 June 2021}} In 1971 Awori was jailed for two months after [Idi Amin](/source/Idi_Amin)'s coup, because during Amin's first coup attempt he didn't broadcast a speech Amin gave, lying to him by saying that they were live on air. He went into political exile in [Kenya](/source/Kenya),{{cite journal |last1=Kabeba |first1=Don |title=Uganda: no censors needed |journal=Index on Censorship |date=1979 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=18–21 |doi=10.1080/03064227908532896 |s2cid=143863530 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064227908532896 |access-date=3 June 2021|url-access=subscription }} where he taught political journalism at the [University of Nairobi](/source/University_of_Nairobi){{cite news |last1=Schneider |first1=Deborah |title=Election Special |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2000/11/election-special.html |access-date=4 June 2021 |agency=Harvard Magazine |publisher=Harvard Magazine Inc. |date=1 November 2001}} until 1976 and then traveled around Africa visiting [Tanzania](/source/Tanzania), [Liberia](/source/Liberia) and [Senegal](/source/Senegal) and returning to [Nairobi](/source/Nairobi) in 1979. After Idi Amin was overthrown in 1979, Awori returned to Uganda. He ran for a seat in the [National Assembly of Uganda](/source/National_Assembly_of_Uganda), but lost. He then became Ambassador to the [United States](/source/United_States), until being transferred by [Tito Okello Lutwa](/source/Tito_Okello_Lutwa) in 1985. He served as Uganda's Ambassador to [Belgium](/source/Belgium) from 1985 until 1987, when he was dropped by [Yoweri Museveni](/source/Yoweri_Museveni).{{cite web|url=http://www.ict.go.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=71|title=Honorable Aggrey Siryoyi Awori's Profile|access-date=6 April 2015|publisher=Uganda Ministry of ICT|date=2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411151619/http://www.ict.go.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=71|archive-date=11 April 2015|url-status=live}} After a brief asylum in Nairobi, Awori started to build up a rebel group operating from eastern Uganda named Force Obote Back Again (FOBA).{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Janet I. |title=How Insurgency Begins Rebel Group Formation in Uganda and Beyond |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Online |isbn=978-1108479660 |page=61 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/how-insurgency-begins/uganda-and-beyond/53BD24D03D8FDB92CF1B56AD4A667B2C |access-date=4 June 2021}} He stated that his reason for doing so was mainly anger at Museveni's [National Resistance Army](/source/National_Resistance_Army), which had confiscated his property. In 1992, he dissolved his rebel group, which had consisted mainly of young fighters. In 1993, Awori met with Museveni in [New York](/source/New_York_City) and then was [elected to the Constituent Assembly](/source/1994_Ugandan_Constituent_Assembly_election) to drawing up the country's new constitution and as a member of parliament. He came third in the [2001 presidential elections](/source/2001_Ugandan_presidential_election), polling 1.41% of the vote.{{cite web|title=2001 Uganda Poll: The Other Contenders|first=Anna|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1209952.stm|last=Borzello|access-date=6 April 2015|date=8 March 2001|publisher=[BBC News](/source/BBC_News)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723083520/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1209952.stm|archive-date=23 July 2015|url-status=live}} He represented Samia-Bugwe North, [Busia District](/source/Busia_District%2C_Uganda) in the Ugandan Parliament from 2001 until 2006. Awori was an outspoken opposition member of parliament for the [Uganda People's Congress](/source/Uganda_People's_Congress) (UPC) political party. In 2007, he abandoned the UPC and joined the ruling National Resistance Movement political party. He was the Minister for Information & Communications Technology in the [Cabinet of Uganda](/source/Cabinet_of_Uganda) from 16 February 2009 to 27 May 2011. In the cabinet reshuffle of 27 May 2011, he was dropped from the cabinet and replaced by [Ruhakana Rugunda](/source/Ruhakana_Rugunda).{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150208384704078&comments|title=Comprehensive List of New Cabinet Appointments & Dropped Ministers|date=27 May 2011|access-date=6 April 2015|publisher=Uganda State House|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428032753/https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150208384704078&comments|archive-date=28 April 2019|url-status=live}} On account of his cabinet post, he was an ''ex officio'' Member of the [Ugandan Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_Uganda) (MP).{{cite web|access-date=6 April 2015 |url=http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/675212 |title=Awori Back In Parliament, Tables Three Bills |date=19 March 2009 |newspaper=[New Vision](/source/New_Vision) (Kampala) |first1=Catherine|last1=Bekunda |first2=Joyce|last2=Namutebi |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413215846/http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/675212 |archive-date=13 April 2015 }} ==Personal life == Aggrey Awori was married to [Thelma Awori](/source/Thelma_Awori), who worked as Director for Africa at the [United Nations Development Programme](/source/United_Nations_Development_Programme). Together they were the parents of six adult children. Aggrey Awori, at the age of 82, died from [COVID-19](/source/COVID-19) on 5 July 2021, at a private hospital in Naalya, Kampala.{{cite web|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/africa/2021-07-05-former-ugandan-presidential-candidate-aggrey-awori-dies/|title=Former Ugandan presidential candidate Aggrey Awori dies|first=Sharon|last=Maombo|work=The Star|date=5 July 2021|access-date=5 July 2021}}{{cite news |title=Raila Odinga eulogises Aggrey Awori |url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/raila-odinga-eulogises-aggrey-awori-3463368 |access-date=11 July 2021 |work=Daily Monitor |date=6 July 2021 |language=en}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160319224843/http://www.parliament.go.ug/new/ Website of the Parliament of Uganda] *[http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/501695/Opio Full Ministerial Cabinet List, June 2006]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/671730/Opio Full Ministerial Cabinet List, February 2009]{{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150208384704078&comments Full Ministerial Cabinet List, May 2011] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Awori, Aggrey}} Category:1939 births Category:2021 deaths Category:People from Busia District, Uganda Category:Members of the Parliament of Uganda Category:Information ministers of Uganda Category:Communication ministers of Uganda Category:Uganda People's Congress politicians Category:National Resistance Movement politicians Category:Ugandan men hurdlers Category:Ugandan men sprinters Category:Ugandan sportsperson-politicians Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:Samia people Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic athletes for Uganda Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda Category:Sportspeople from Eastern Region, Uganda Category:Harvard Crimson men's track and field athletes Category:Ambassadors of Uganda to Belgium Category:Ambassadors of Uganda to the United States --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aggrey Awori](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggrey_Awori) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggrey_Awori?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.