In Jeremiah 1:5, God said, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
On Saturday, May 11th, 1968, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, the Lira City Woman Member of Parliament, was born, and today she turns 56 years old.
In her journey, Dr. Aceng, whose passion for evidence-based research in everything is strict, has served humanity with distinctions and strong reservations on things that her conscience often deems unfit for the community.
Born into a family of a midwife mother and a teacher (father), Dr. Aceng went to Ambalal Primary School in Lira up to P.3 before joining Shimon Primary School in Kampala.
Like the Bible says in Jeremiah 1:5, God predestined the course of Aceng’s life and gifted her with the gift of serving humanity and protecting lives.
To the people of Lira City (Lango) as a whole, Dr. Aceng, using her medical skills, has touched the lives of many people, with hundreds of children delivered into her hands.
In 1987, when Minister Aceng joined Makerere University to study medicine, as a young girl at the time, she never knew she would be the epitome of this profession in Uganda.
By 1993, she had completed her course and was shortly deployed to Lacor Hospital in 1993 for her internship, which she completed in 1994. Straight away, she was posted to Kiryandongo General Hospital but opted for Lira District Hospital.
“Upon arrival in Lira, we (her and Dr. Ochero) got a very warm welcome. I want to believe because Lira Hospital at that time was having a lot of challenges, and here were two young, hardworking doctors who were determined to change the status quo at the hospital, and we were famously known as “otin” (young) doctors—you know, small in size but very active. And so, our journey in Lira Hospital started.” Minister Aceng once narrated her ordeal in one of the many interviews with journalists.
In 1997, Dr. Aceng was appointed as the Medical Superintendent of the then-Lira District Hospital until 2010, when she was appointed the Director General of Health Services in Uganda.
With her glaring, undisputable records of excellence, Dr. Aceng was appointed Health Minister in 2016, a position she has held until now.
Towards the 2021 election, during one of his many televised addresses to the nation at a time when Uganda was battling COVID-19, President Museveni said, “I hear my daughter wants to go and contest as the Lira City Woman MP; if they elect you, come back here; your constituency is here at Nakasero State Lodge.”
Boom, she won the election and soon would be redeployed in the same docket of health as now.
Today, as we celebrate her birthday, a political storm sponsored by the Oyam South MP and Minister Betty Amongi has continued to pose unrealistic political threats ahead of 2026. Amongi has declared interest in contesting against Dr. Jane.
To many pundits, any political mission against Minister Aceng is clothed with irreparable suicidal consequences from President Museveni, whose interest is far from over on her.
Recently, a senior intelligence officer at Nakasero described Minister Amongi’s attempt to oust Minister Aceng as a daring mission quite near to testing the depth of a river with your two legs and wondered how she (the UPC wife) would nurse the results from the old man with a hat.
“In her 30 years of service as a medical person, Dr. Aceng, whose political representation is clothed with interest in serving humanity, never saw herself joining active politics until a few years ago, when it was demand-driven, a move she immediately embraced out of good will,” said a pundit in Lira City.
Minister Aceng, with a soft-spoken baby face, has an inclusive sense of humor and humility and is always motivated not to seek popularity but to use her position as a chance to contribute and serve people.
Politically, as a great team player, Dr. Aceng’s coming into the politics of Lango restored sanity and hope and solidified the trust people had built in the ruling party.
Dr. Aceng is married to the same man, Dr. Andrew Ocero, whom she met from her medical school in the late 1980s. In 1995, the duo married officially while working together at the then-Lira District Hospital as media officers.
Congratulations, Minister, Dr. Jane Aceng Ocero.
Stay tuned for the second edition of Minister Aceng’s political journey.
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Happy birthday to Dr jane Ruth acheng ochero minister of health uganda