"Colonel' Ochola Johnson: the Lango Cock whom everyone thought had a burning Comb

By David Labeja
Lira, Uganda

Col Ochola at work in Karuma

IT is not uncommon to find a Silver Range Rover Vogue and two or three other smaller cars parked in the busy township of Karuma, with men and women admiring the fuel guzzlers. A few meters from the auto, always on a verandah of some restaurant or tea house, a group of mainly young men are gathered around an individual who is always the center interest. This individual is ‘Col’ Lawrence Johnson Ochola, the man arrested one month ago for impersonating the ntionl army, UPDF.

Ochola in hand curves in Kireka

Ochola, who caused a stir in Lango Sub Region three months, ago is always seen pingponging between Karuma Trading Centre in Kiryandongo Disctrict and Heritage Park across the bridge in Nwoya district.
Ochola rules Karuma and Kamdini areas, and can only be compared to the proverbial cock in folk tales that threatened flow birds and animals that his comb was made of fire, and could burnt.

“That man is very powerful; can you imagine he gave the women’s group sh3m? I hear he was brought back from America to manage the construction of the dam,” said the maid at a restaurant in Karuma.

But questions continue to linger on the true identity of Ochola.  A visit on his Facebook page under the names Johnson Lawrence Ochola on Thursday August 27th, 2015, indicated that he was a Crew Chief at United States Air force. There are also loads of photos of U.S. military personnel on his Facebook page, but none of the photos has the face of ‘Col’ Johnson Ochola. Perhaps he was the photographer. The LC 1 chairman of Karuma where Ochola is resident Opio Severino said he was also confused about the status of Ochola.
“He has never told me himself but I hear he is a pilot of a passenger plane in the US, I also hear people say he is a Human Resource Officer of Sinohydro,” said Opio. Synohydro is the company contracted to construct the 6000KW Karuma Dam. Repeated phone calls to Synohydro officials as well as emails were not answered.
When contacted for a comment about an America army personnel on ‘Special assignment by President Yoweri Museveni’ as Ochola earlier claimed, Christopher J. Brown, spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala said they were  aware of the reports regarding Ochola, but declined to give further details. When probed further, Brown sent a one sentence reply on email “We have no information regarding Mr. Ochola.”

Ochola first appeared in Lira town three months ago and introduced himself as a UPDF Colonel recalled by President Museveni from the United States of America where he served in the US Air Force at the rank of Captain. Ochola said he was tasked to mediate the dispute between Lango Paramount Chief Yosam Odur and rival clan heads and to oversee the construction of the gateway project, through which a modern city would be built in Karuma, 300 kilometers north of Kampala.
He has traversed all the districts in Lango sub region where he reportedly terrified locals and threatened leaders who questioned his actions and motive. His actions raised suspicion within the population, and he was arrested and detained at the Special Investigation Unit of the Police at Kireka for over a week before being released on bond. On Saturday however, Ochola was rearrested and detained in Kireka again.

Lindah Nabusayi, President Museveni’s  Press Secretary said a thorough enquiry from both the Special Forces Unit and Statehouse showed no record of the said Ochola, despite claims he makes that he was specially assigned by President Yoweri Museveni to manage the Karuma Dam construction.
An official from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral development who spoke on condition of anonymity said all their staff members in Karuma were known and Ochola was not among them. “All our staff were recruited through the public service as is required, we do not have any staff by the name of Ochola Johnson,” said the source.

There are also conflicting reports about his (Ochola’s) true names. People who say they knew him as a teenager say Ochola was born Patrick Ebong from Atakara maka Gwata Village, Atopi Parish in Apac Sub County.
“I grew up with that guy, he vanished from us here in the 1990s and no one knew where he was. In fact a ceremony was held as a funeral rite since he was presumed dead,” said a relative from Atopi who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A journalist in Lira town says Ochola went to Lango College between 1992 and 1993 before transferring to Amuca SDA secondary school, also in Lira.
“He was my classmate. He studied there only one year and left, that was the last we heard of or saw him, then he remerges as a Colonel of the U.S. forces,” said the journalist, also preferring anonymity.

Ochola's Facebook page on Thursday 27.8.2015

But a source in one of the security agencies who spoke on condition of anonymity so as to freely talk said Ochola was adopted by an American family, a Mr. and Mrs Smith Johnson that lived in Kololo. The family reportedly took him to Mozambique where he learnt Portuguese and pursued his studies. The adoption was however incomplete, as the family did not get all the documents. They slipped off with him by road to Mozambique.
”That is where he got the Johnson name from,” said the source. While there, the source added, Ochola was used by Mr. Miller as an informer for some international agencies and mingled with South African Development Community (SaDC) forces and the Forças Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique (FADM) or Armed Forces for the Defence of Mozambique.

Ochola in army outfits

“Ochola was in 2008 deployed in Tanzania by Sadc brigade in Mozambique to investigate some money scams. It’s from there that we established he met one Okello, who was a Captain, then working for the External Security Organization (ESO). It is suspected Ochola ran into some trouble and needed to disappear untraced.  The said Captain Okello then gave Ochola temporary travel documents to come to Uganda, where ESO reportedly continued using him, and eventually ISO also used him to gather information about some opposition politicians in Lango region. He did a good job,” said the source.
He said by the time Karuma construction was starting, Ochola was seeking an appointment with the office of the Director General of ISO for deployment. He was recommended for deployment by the DISO of Luwero district.
“Since we needed someone as a liaison officer in Karuma, Ochola was deployed there as an informer and a liaison officer. It’s perhaps fromhere that he told the Chinese guys in Synohydro that he was sent by the president. That is why those guys appointed him assistant HR officer,” he said.
When contacted on phone, the Director General of ESO Joseph Ocwet denied reports that they deployed Ochola in Karuma.
But the source in the security agencies said Ochola had embarrassed government by coning people of money, and government was cautious to accept him as one of their own. He said Ochola has been warned to desist from further embarrassing government lest his bond is cancelled.
All known contacts of Ochola were off by the time of filing this report, but his friends said all incoming calls were barred on Ochola’s phones since his arrest.

END