KUMI – The man who hoisted the Uganda Flag on October 9, 1962 when the country got her independence from Britain has died.
Maj (Rtd) Kanuti Akorimo succumbed to pneumonia at Atutur Hospital in Kumi district on Wednesday, April 22.
He was 89.
According to the hospital medical superintendent, Dr. Isaac Omare, the deceased has been in and out of hospital over the last two years.
“He had long time illness. He was suffering from stroke for almost nine months,” Dr. Omare said in telephone interview.
“We have been treating him and he goes home. But it is on Friday when his condition worsened, and we admitted him not until two days later when we put him on oxygen,” he said adding: “By Tuesday we had alerted State House. He was to be transferred to Mulago, but the unthinkable thing happened.”
Christine Apolot, the LCV chairperson Kumi says Maj. Akorimo’s death is a big blow to the district, Teso and the country. She wants the government to meet the burial expenses of the person she described as a hero in the land.
Maj. Akorimo, a man who carries accolade of national hero has been living a quiet life in Omatenga village in Kumi district. He attended a commercial course in Nairobi, Kenya and later trained in a short service commission in Britain where he returned as a senior officer in the army.
Maj. Akorimo has also served as the chairperson of Kumi Association of Ex-servicemen. Akorimo served the British government for more than 20 years and retired as a major in 1968 at the age of 37.
In 2014, Akorimo rejected a house President Museveni promised him in 2009 on grounds that he didn’t have much time left to live.
