Rwot Icaya Ogwangguji
County chief of Erute, M.B.E.
1875 – present
A long-serving chief of Erute county, remembered as a bridge between “old Lango” and “new Lango”, and honoured with the M.B.E. in 1956.
A portrait will be added once a properly licensed photograph is confirmed.
Rwot Icaya (Isaya) Ogwangguji was born in 1875 in Abedpiny village, in what is now Lira District. His father, Rwot Olet Apar, led the Oki clan.
A chief in changing times
- His first post was jago (sub-chief) of Lira.
- 1918 – Erute county elected him its county chief (rwot).
- 28 February 1951 – he stopped being county chief of Erute and was promoted to Rwot Adwong, a senior chief.
- 1956 – he was awarded the M.B.E. in the New Year Honours, and he retired in December 1957.
Lango society had traditionally had no permanent chiefs, so the colonial chief system was a very big change. Because Rwot Ogwangguji worked through so many of the changes of the twentieth century, he is described as a chief who bridged “old Lango” and “new Lango”.
Further reading (not online): M. J. Wright, “The early life of Rwot Isaya Ogwangguji, M.B.E.”, Uganda Journal 22(2), September 1958, pp. 131–138, the source cited by Wikipedia.
Read and watch more
- Wikipedia Lango people (section on Rwot Ogwangguji) · Wikipedia
- Research Colonial chiefs in a stateless society: a case-study from Northern Uganda · The Journal of African History
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