The former Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Arua District, Nahori Oya, has died. 

Muzee Oya, a senior National Resistance Movement-NRM cadre and a respected translator of President Museveni’s speeches during past elections in Arua, passed on yesterday at Mulago National Referral Hospital due to complications from high blood pressure and blood sugar. 

He had been referred from Arua Regional Referral Hospital two weeks earlier.

Nahori Oya served as RDC of Arua before it was granted city status, after which he was appointed the first Resident City Commissioner (RCC) of Arua City in 2020.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as Chairperson of the Arua District COVID-19 Taskforce.

Recruited into the NRM as a cadre by President Museveni in the 1980s, Oya served in various capacities until his retirement, including as a member of the Presidential Protocol and later in special assignments in Jinja.

Before retiring, he served in Kole, Kayunga, Adjumani, Maracha, and Arua City, where he concluded his career.

According to Patricia Lenia, one of his daughters, Oya spent two weeks at Arua Regional Referral Hospital before being referred to Mulago, where he spent an additional two weeks but could not be saved.

Peter Debele, a former RDC of Arua and close friend, describes Oya as a dedicated NRM cadre who played a pivotal role in the government from the 1980s until his retirement. 

John Tutu, a Lugbara-Madi cultural promoter in West Nile, who worked with Oya in documenting the history of the Lugbara and Madi people, says his passing is a significant loss to the cultural pride of West Nilers.

Oya’s body will be conveyed to Arua today and laid to rest at his ancestral home in Muni Cell, Ayivu East, Arua City.