Who is Achon Julius Bua? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, relationship with Kristina, Lord’s Resistance Army, World Junior Championships in 1994, Sarah Opendi, Kristina Health Centre (KHC), MP Otuke East County, early life and education of a retired Ugandan middle-distance runner.
Achon Julius Bua is a retired Ugandan middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 and 1500 meters.
He is also the current Member of Parliament representing Otuke East County in Northern Uganda.
Early life and Education
Achon Julius Bua was born on December 12, 1976, in Awake, Otuke district in Northern Uganda.
His mother Kristina was shot by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in 2004 and bled for three days before later dying due to lack of medical care.
Achon is the firstborn child of nine children. In 2002, he got married to Grace and together they have two sons.
Achon Julius Bua began running at the age of ten. He was inspired by the stories of Ugandan 400m hurdler John Akii-Bua, who won Olympic gold in 1972.
At 12 years of age, he was abducted by the LRA to fight as a child soldier in a civil war, but he managed to escape after three months.
Achon attended Orum Primary School in Otuke District. Christopher Mugisa, the Makerere College games master at the time, looked for him and took him to Makerere College, where he sat for his O’Level studies on a scholarship.
Mugisha also offered Achon a scholarship to join Makerere University where he spent four years studying Sports Science. After that, he received scholarship offers from a number of US colleges. He chose George Mason University.
Achon later transferred to the University of Phoenix in the United States, where he worked as a trainer for elite US Olympic athletes at the Nike Oregon Project in Portland, Oregon.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Achon Julius Bua won his first race in 1989, earning him a spot at the district championships in Lira the following year. Achon ran barefoot because he couldn’t afford shoes, but he still won three races (800m, 1,500m, and 3,000m) on the same day.
Achon became the first Ugandan to win gold at the World Junior Championships in 1994, running the 1500m in 3:39.78. He won the NCAA 800m title in 1996, setting a new US college record of 1:44.55.
Later that year, as captain of Uganda’s Olympic team, he ran in the 1500m heats at the Atlanta Olympics.
His district championship victory earned him a spot at the national championships, where he won the 1,500m in 4:09.52.
In 1994, he was selected to represent Uganda in the World Junior Championships in Lisbon. There, he became the first Ugandan to win gold in the 1,500m with a time of 3:39.78.
In 1995, he won a bronze medal at the All-Africa Games in Harare, Zimbabwe.
He made his Olympic debut in 1996, at the age of 19, at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He competed in two heats, the 800m and the 1,500m, finishing sixth in both.
He went on to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, reaching the 1500m semifinals. He, however, did not compete in the Athens Games after learning about his mother’s death.
Achon also won the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Portugal and the 2002 African Champions in Rades, Tunisia, where he finished with a time of 3:43.00.
In 2003, John Cook, who coached Achon at George Mason, offered him a position as an assistant coach with Alberto Salazar’s Nike Oregon Project, pacing elite runners such as Galen Rupp, who competed in the Beijing Olympics.
Unfortunately, a car accident in May 2007 ended his running career. Achon lost his job at Nike due to budget cuts in 2010, but he began working part-time at the campus Nike store instead.
Achon then turned to politics and was elected to the Ugandan Parliament in February 2016, to serve as the representative of his home district, Otuke county.
Achievements and Awards
Achon has received both gold and bronze medals in his athletic career. A book titled ‘The Boy Who Runs’ which is written by John Brant, chronicles Achon’s life.
In 2007, Achon met Jim Fee in Portland, Oregon, and together they founded the non-profit organization Achon Uganda Children’s Fund, with Fee serving as an unpaid advisor.
Achon began providing for children orphaned by the Ugandan civil war in 2003 when he discovered 11 orphans hiding under a bus.
Motor Care Company recognized his foundation, Achon Children’s Fund (ACF), as the best charity in Uganda.
Achon built a church, a community center and a pit latrine in his village in August 2009.
He got the idea for this project after attending his mother’s burial church service, which was held under a tree. Achon also dug two boreholes for his neighborhood.
He successfully opened Kristina Health Centre (KHC) in 2021 in memory of his mother (Kristina) with support from his friends in America and Australia, and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health by the State Minister for Health in charge of Primary Health Care, Sarah Opendi.
Controversies
On January 25, 2014, the two-time Olympian, who was competing for the presidency against incumbent Dominic Otucet, was denied access to the Lugogo elective assembly venue.
Achon had previously unsuccessfully petitioned the National Council of Sports (NCS) for a postponement of the assembly, claiming that the ground was uneven.
“I was very disappointed with how things played out,” he said. Achon later petitioned the Kampala High Court to overturn the results, calling them a “sham.”
He called for new elections to be presided over by an independent body. However, the case was dismissed on the grounds that the petitioner’s affidavit was defective because it was commissioned by a suspended advocate.
He was instead asked to pay UAF Shs27m in damages as monthly payments of Shs3m with the final payment which he made in June.
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