Mrs. Joyce Engola, wife to the late Col. Charles Okello Engola, former State Minister for Defence has narrated how she had a voice tell her to fast for 21 days ahead of husband’s demise.
Appearing at Kololo Ceremonial grounds today, 10thMay, 2023, for a National sendoff of late Engola which was presided over by President Yoweri Museveni and the First Lady Janet Kataaha, Joyce revealed that on Tuesday, 2nd May was the darkest day of her life.
“The morning began very well, a brighter morning but little did I know the world was going to turn upside down. But I thank God, He had prepared me to face it,” she revealed. Mrs. Joyce further disclosed that on 20th, April, she got a voice and enter a fasting period.
“Whenever I’m under certain attacks, I put my knees down. God asked me to enter into a prayer fast for 21 days and I asked what is my prayer point that I must be referring to and I must pray for. I had a voice, go and start a prayer fast for 21 days.
“Then I took it on obediently and once I start my prayer fast, I always prepare my husband and my house helper so that when they are providing daily meals, they do not set mine on the dining table.
Much as I seat with him at the dining, I do not partake in the meals which are provided until the time of breaking my fast comes. So he was aware.”
She furthermore divulged that in the last week of April, her husband was energetic because he toured this country on official assignments.
“I remember when I was at my workplace in Eastern Uganda, he called me (and asked me), ‘When are you coming back from field?’ I’m based in Jinja and I’m a teacher by profession, I work for Opportunity International Education Quality program, we rollout Education quality programmes in schools and support teachers and school professors in capacity building.”
She adduced that as she was in the field conducting her work, her husband asked her to go home since the term had come to an end.
Joyce maintained that following the call, she had to return to Kampala on a Wednesday evening but yet he (Engola) was traveling to Moroto the next day for a meeting with Gen.Salim Saleh.
She revealed further, “He left, went to Moroto very early on Friday morning, had his meeting and then on Friday evening, he came back and slept at home in Oyam, that is when he met the parents of the two little girls we just adopted.
“He sought my consent to bring them home in Kampala, I told him that it is the best you will have done for me so that they (children) have a change of environment and can focus so that they work hard to see that while they were being buried in the village, there is a different world.
“And that very Saturday night, he had a meeting and they agreed (to take their children to Kampala). He wrote down a consent note (where the parents) were accepting and handing over the two little children.
I told them since he is a political figure, we need to meet the probation officer so that they don’t politicize it and that we have grabbed someone’s children. And when they came back that day, I welcomed the little girls, then we prepared to go for a family social function in Ntungamo at a family gathering of Prof.Bashasha.
“We decided to leave on Sunday very early since this was a service of the church that was built in honor of ‘mama’ Joy Bashasha and that was her will she left that her children should complete her church in memory of her name. And passionately indeed the children completed her passion very well.”
Joyce however told mourners that sometimes God can prepare people referring to a powerful sermon that was delivered during the service in Ntungamo by His Grace Rev.Kazimba Mugalu.
“During the delivery of a sermon, my husband kept noting and he noted things I actually discovered after his death.”
She continued, “For me, I’m celebrating his life, I have stayed with him for the last 23 years, he came into my life and asked me to take care of the children because the nature of his work does not allow him to be always at home just like my children have stated, sometimes when he is at home, they would have a good time with him.”
She however insisted that she has hope because of the message he (her husband) left in the book that strengthens her.
She also emphasized that Col. Engola has made his contribution to the country and so she is very convinced that he has gone to the Father.
“Your Excellency, I would like to thank you for giving my husband a chance to work in different areas especially in the army. The whole of him was an army, you would feel the passion of the army in him. I thank God that even in tough times, he never gave up.”
ENGOLA WAS A S A CR I FICIAL LAMB: Speaking at the sendoff of late Charles Engola, President Museveni noted that one could tell at the time that he was a patriot because initially, the political elite from the North was disorganizing people to be against the National Resistance Army (NRA) but he was part of the cadres from the North who rejected that nonsense.
He noted, “Charles Engola was a patriot. I first saw him in 1986 at Lubiri Barracks, manning a 14.5mm anti-aircraft gun. “The soldier had been there for only one month. It was not Engola it was something else that triggered him.
“Charles Engola had nothing to do with the cause of his death. There is no way you can say the soldier did what he did because of the actions of Minister Engola.”
Museveni further revealed that from 1987 to 1996, at the time of the Tumukunde Report, he was getting UGX 150,000 per month as President and that was his salary.
“We were rebuilding our country and i was the highest paid at the time. I appeal to Ugandans and especially the political class to come back to the National Resistance Army (NRA) doctrine. Our doctrine was, to work for patriotism, not for pay.”
He questioned, “Are you trying to mean that every time a soldier goes on patrol, he should get an allowance? How shall we sustain this? What sort of army are we building?”
He contended that the mentality of allowances is wrong, adding that if one is talking about bodyguards having allowances, what about those in Congo?
Museveni adduced that when the soldiers come from the army and mix with the civilian sector, they get involved in mercenaryism of the parasites who don’t think about their country just money.
“When people came to me to increase the salary of the President, I refused. I know the state our country is in. I have refused the salary rights of the President. (My) Salary is UGX 3.6 million, of which 20% goes to the NRM.
The National Resistance Army doctrine enabled us to fight with nothing until we got the victory. It’s not correct for people to distort our doctrine our with money and allowance talks.”
He, therefore, emphasized that the fighters of Uganda should not fight for high salaries because Uganda cannot afford high salaries for every individual.
Museveni also noted that Engola was a sacrificial lamb who died because of problems that were not his. He added that they should use his death as an inspiration to sort out all the dark areas in the country and go back to the National Resistance Army way.
Speaking of homosexuals, Museveni intimated that they think they can make them homosexuals because they assume they want money from them.
“If you fear to sacrifice because you do not want to live the hard way, you become a prostitute. We don’t want people putting pressure on us to do things the country cannot afford. These are our real enemies, and those who are doing it should stop because it derails us.”
He however insisted that it is not right for Charles Engola to die at 64 when he was still energetic, that is why they need to get rid of all the weaknesses that led to his unnatural death.
