The Commonwealth Secretariat has mourned the late Joseph Okema, who died in a Nairobi hospital on Sunday after a severe car accident.

The Late Joseph Okema

Okema was the manager of the ‘Project Hope’ Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre in Gulu, a project spearheaded by the Commonwealth.

Commenting in the absence of Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, who is travelling in India, Assistant Secretary-General Steve Cutts said since 2005, Okema had been the backbone of the Commonwealth’s response to two decades of conflict in Northern Uganda.

The project carried out with the Government of Uganda and the UK’s Department for International Development is aimed at rehabilitating some of the children affected by the long war in northern Uganda.

“Joseph provided dynamic leadership for this project, and was its most powerful advocate. He knew that its lessons about rebuilding lives by building vocational skills and livelihoods could be transferred far and wide,” Cutts said in the statement.

“We feel deeply for his family and friends at this time.  We feel the same for his colleagues at the Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre, and the children of Project Hope.  A cherished colleague, he will be sorely missed,” the statement adds.