Who is Silas Aogon? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Pamela Kamugo Nasiyo, the Budaka Woman Member of Parliament, Greater North Parliamentary Forum, the early life and education of the current Member of Parliament for Kumi Municipality, Kumi District in Uganda.
Silas Aogon is a Ugandan independent politician and accountant. He is the Member of Parliament for Kumi Municipality, Kumi District.
He has continued to serve in the position for two terms (both in the tenth and eleventh Parliaments).
Early life and Education
Silas Aogon was born on 17th November 1976 in Kumi District in the Eastern Region of Uganda. He is married and believes being a politician is God’s call for him and he loves it.
Silas attended his primary education at Kumi Primary School and sat for his Primary Leaving Examinations in 1991.
He then joined Wiggins Secondary School and in 1995 earned his Uganda Certificate of Education. In 1998, he finished his A-level studies at Elgon High School in Mbale District and was awarded a Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education.
Silas then joined Makerere University Business School and earned a Diploma in Store Management in 2000. In 2013, he became a Certified Public Accountant of Uganda after completing the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU).
Career and Professional Work Experience
Silas worked for the Bukedea District Local Government as a Stores Assistant in 2006, an Accounts Assistant from 2006 to 2009 and a Senior Accounts Assistant from 2009 to 2015 before being elected to the Ugandan Parliament as a Member of Parliament.
In the years 2002 and 2006, he also served as the Stores Assistant for the Kumi District Local Government.
Silas also worked as an event manager and master of ceremonies (MC) at several events like fundraisings, weddings, traditional marriages, family meetings and conflict resolution events prior to entering politics.
He said that some people started asking him to contest for parliament and when Kumi municipality was created he decided to give the political platform a try. He won the elections in 2016 becoming the Member of Parliament of Kumi Municipality in the tenth parliament.
He garnered 6,168 votes and also won the 2021 General elections against eight other candidates thus continuing to serve in his office for the second term.
Achievements and Awards
Silas Aogon represents ICPAU as an associate of the professional body. He is a member of both the Committee on Natural Resources and the Public Accounts Committee. He is also an Associate Member of UWOPA.
He also serves as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) forum. He has taken it upon himself to take the environmental conservation duty as a day-to-day activity in order to curb the vice.
Hon. Silas participates in the Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection, which focuses on problems pertaining to the elderly. He is one of the forum’s champions and served as the Publicity Secretary of the Forum in the 10th Parliament.
Controversies
Silas Aogon is a man well-known for speaking his mind and a very concerned leader who wastes no time expressing his views and beliefs.
When Members of Uganda’s parliament wanted to reintroduce the anti-gay bill that had been deemed unconstitutional in 2018, Hon. Silas commented that “For anybody to support homosexuality is to support sexual terrorism; it is uncouth, unacceptable and not African. The right way is the Biblical way.” A statement for which he got backlash from so many people who are not against homosexuality.
Hon. Silas was one of the four Teso Sub-region MPs who promised to strike if the administration did not distribute food fairly.
He said that many Ugandans were experiencing financial difficulties as a result of company closures during the COVID-19 outbreak and urged the government to open the nation so that people might engage in trade.
Silas Aogon is also one of the Law makers on the Greater North Parliamentary Forum who committed support towards reintroducing the Human Rights Defenders Bill meant to recognise, promote and enhance the protection of the work and activities of human rights defenders.
As the chairperson of the forum, he said that processing and passing the bill into law would go a long way in protecting human rights defenders in Uganda.
This was during discussions between forum members and members of the National Coalition on Human Rights Defenders Uganda (NCHRDU) on Friday, 10 June 2022 in the Parliament Conference Hall.
Aogon claimed that the bill would be accomplished by placing strict requirements on the government to ensure a secure and enabling environment for human rights defenders to function freely as well as by criminalising actions that restrict the exercise of rights and freedoms.
Silas Aogon was one of the three other MPs arrested along with Budaka Woman Member of Parliament Pamela Kamugo Nasiyo in September 2017 for inciting residents to carry out a demonstration over the poor state of the Mbale-Tirinyi-Kampala highway, which had turned into a death trap.
Angry citizens who were waiting for them at Kakoli trading centre under the careful eye of heavily-armed anti-riot police later joined the demonstration, which began at 10:00 am at the bridge separating Naboa and Kakoli trading centres.
First, the MPs overpowered the heavily guarded anti-riot Police, who were carrying tear gas canisters and AK-47 rifles and had set up roadblocks to prevent the MPs’ rally from happening.
While the other MPs were pushed into a traffic patrol car, Kamugo, who was accompanied by her husband, was forced into a double cabin vehicle owned by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
Before making room for other road users, the visibly outraged locals insisted that the Police release the politicians immediately and without conditions.
The police eventually gave in to pressure and released the MPs. The MPs spoke to angry citizens before boarding their official cars to leave the site.
Only after receiving a letter from UNRA informing them that a new contractor had been found and that a new contract will be signed in two weeks did the MPs agree to call off the protest.
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