Background
Jeremiah Opira was born in Namokora, Kitgum District in Chua County, Acholi, Northern Uganda.
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Jeremiah Opira
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Career
The UNLF and its military wing UNLA removed Idi Amin from power with the support of the Tanzania People"s Defence Force on April 11, 1979. He worked for consolidation of national unity in Uganda and the return of kingdoms which he believed would be a unifying factor in Uganda. He instigated investigations into the Ugandan and East African pre-European history, and wrote articles on this subject and on African politics.
He died of heart failure in November 2000.
He received his primary education in the Church Mission Society (Content Management System Kitgum Primary School) and later in Kenya at Ribe Methodist Junior Secondary School, Mombasa, and Shimo Louisiana Tewa Senior Secondary School. Prior to his political career, he worked as a teacher and headmaster after qualifying in 1953 from Uganda Teachers College Buwalasi.
He became popularly known in his native Luo as "Lapwony" which means teacher. He continued to study for the Cambridge School Certificate Examination which he completed in 1959.
After joining the Ugandan government, Opira studied at the Institute of Public Administration, office of the Prime Minister of Israel (1963-1964).
He was later appointed Assistant Secretary in the office of the Prime Minister of Uganda and received promotions, including one for saving the life of the King Sir Edward Mutesa II from an assassination attempt by Idi Amin in 1966. By January 1971 he was the Deputy Chief General Service Officer/Deputy Permanent Cabinet Secretary and Functional Chief Political Advisor in the Office of the President. He fled Uganda and went into exile immediately after the military coup in 1971.
He spent the first years of exile in Tanzania, yet was detained for political reasons and imprisoned for 18 months between 1972-1974.
In 1974 he left East Africa for exile in Sweden. While in Sweden he studied economics and political science at a post-graduate level
He obtained a Swedish Bachelor of Arts degree from Lund University. Opira played a key role in founding the UNLF and facilitating the Moshi conference that led to the fall of Idi Amin.
He was therefore subsequently appointed the National Executive Secretary 1979-1980.
During the 1980 General Elections he campaigned briefly as vice-chairman of the Uganda Patriotic Movement. He later returned to Uganda in 1985 and was appointed Chief Executive Director of the Uganda Board of Trade.
