Former influential Kenyan Assistant minister Frederick Oduya Oprong bedridden with bullet lodged in head

Frederick Oduya Oprong is bedridden at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s private wing and is badly in need of cash to pay his medical bills.

The once burly assistant minister whose booming voice made him stand out in Parliament has been in poor health since he was shot in the head in 1994. There is little doubt that the former ally of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga is a pale shadow of himself and quite different from the man who served as assistant minister in the administrations of former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi.

Kenya's former assistant minister for Economic Planning and National Development Frederick Oduya Oprong during his heydays. (PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD)

The 78-year-old says he has been abandoned by politicians who seldom visit him, but is grateful for the Sh30,000 donated by his area governor Sospeter Ojaamong  to meet part of his medical costs.

Regained consciousness

He remembers the June 1994 shooting quite vividly because just  three days earlier, he had returned from Mexico as part of a Kenyan delegation that attended a United Nations Development Programme meeting as the country’s assistant minister for Economic Planning and National Development.

“I was in the house along with my daughters in Mariakani Estate in Nairobi. After the 7p.m. news, I got into my car, but as I reversed the vehicle, unknown gunmen shot me in the head,” he recalls.

The gunshots cut short his journey to his Busia North constituency where he had a fundraiser planned.

 Oprong was rushed to Nairobi Hospital and when his condition stabilised, he was flown to London four days later even though he was in a coma. He came out of his coma three months later in Maryland Hospital, New York, where he had been transferred.

“The doctors were able to remove one bullet from his head but maintained that removing the other one, which was lodged behind the brain, could kill him,” says Isaac, one of Oprong’s sons.

Since then, the once fiery politician has battled numerous health problems — including a stroke — which has left him frail and severely handicapped.

Oprong first served as MP for Busia North in the independence parliament of 1963 and then later appointed assistant minister for Labour in 1974 after he founded the Kenya Quarry and Mine Workers Union.

He became assistant minister for Economic Planning in 1993 while serving as MP for the then Busia North Constituency.

This is all in the past for a politician whose star was rising.

“The attack changed my life and even those who were once my close friends and held key positions in government have stayed away as my health deteriorated,” he struggles to say.

Effects of the stroke and constant pain he suffers are evident in his eyes.

His family is still trying to come to terms with the shooting two decades later.

“We wonder who could be responsible for this cruel act. However, we are grateful that he is alive,” says Isaac.

“He is resilient and despite his condition he has always played his role as a father and leader.”

In his heydays, Oprong was at the forefront in calling for the release of founding President Jomo Kenyatta from prison where he had been held by the British colonial government.  He worked with key national figures at the time, among them Moi, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya.

“When Jomo Kenyatta was released from detention, my father organised for a delegation from the Teso community to pay him a visit in Nairobi,” Isaac says.

It is with Oprong’s influence that the Teso community, once considered a minority group, was allowed to register for national identity cards, Isaac says. This had previously been resisted by some leaders who viewed the Teso as non-Kenyans as a sizeable population also lived in Uganda.

“He was among the founding members of Kenya Peoples Union, which had attempted to overpower Kanu in 1966, but he later ditched the opposition to join the ruling party,” said Isaac.

Lawrence Amke, the last born son of Oprong’s second wife, wants the government to establish an inquiry to investigate the attack that changed the family’s fortunes forever.

“No one has ever been arrested over the attack. We have raised our concerns with the authorities to no avail. The current regime should come to our aid so that justice is served,” Amke says.

He wants Oprong’s contribution to the society to be recognised.

“While in government, my father was appointed by President Moi to hold negotiations with neigbouring countries to push for the revival of the East African Community as well as defusing tension between Kenya and Uganda.”

It is for this reason that the Oprong family want compensation. The family says it wants part of the Sh10 billion President Uhuru Kenyatta directed Treasury to set aside over the next three years for restorative justice.

“We had initially thought of presenting his case before the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission  Tribunal but we were convinced that the Jubilee administration would come to his aid,” Lawrence says.

Retirement package

Oprong’s wives, Florence and Grace, say the Government should establish a medical insurance cover for former legislators who do not have the attractive send-off package that current MPs are entitled to.

“The President should recognise the role my husband played in liberating the country from colonialists by compensating him and offering jobs to some of his children who have completed their studies but are jobless,” says Florence.

The push to improve the entitlement of former legislators is gaining momentum.

Lendsey Achudi, a youth leader from the Teso community, says Parliament should expedite the amendment of the Parliamentary Pensions Act so that former legislators are entitled to a more attractive retirement package.

“The likes of Oprong currently receive Sh8,000 per month as pension. This amount cannot even foot his monthly bills, but the current proposal by Kanduyi MP Wafula Wamunyinyi, where they will be entitled to Sh100,000 per month, is ideal,” she said after leading a group of youths to visit Oprong in hospital.

“It is unfortunate to see a distinguished leader whom we have grown up looking up undergoing such hardships.”