Jacob Marksons Oboth commonly known as Jacob Oboth-Oboth (born 13 April 1971) is a
Ugandan lawyer,
intellectual property (IP) expert and politician. He is the elected
Member of Parliament for
West Budama County South who is in the ruling party of NRM.
He also serves as the State minister for defence (general duties).
Oboth-Oboth is the current chairperson of the ''
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee'' and the former chairperson
of the parliamentary ''
Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges'' and the ''Committee on Natural Resources''. He is a serving member of the parliamentary ''Business Committee''.
Early life and education
Oboth-Oboth was born in
Tororo District Eastern Uganda, on 13 April 1971 in an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
family. A down-to-earth person, he did odd jobs to make ends meet in his childhood. From fetching water for a fee for locals to store keeping, he did it all. He attende
Muwafu Primary Schoolfor his primary school education and
St. Denis Ssebugwawo Secondary School for his
O-level academic qualifications.
At one time, Oboth-Oboth was picked up by American missionaries from Tororo streets after being sent away from school for lack of tuition. It was a difficult time for him but during his time with the missionaries, he worked as a store keeper on top of doing other petty jobs for two years before joining Tororo High School for his
A-Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
education. Oboth-Oboth was admitted to
Makerere University in 1997 to study Law. Subsequently, he enrolled for a management certificate course at
Uganda Management Institute.
In 2001, Oboth-Oboth graduated with a
Bachelor of Laws degree and then in 2002, he acquired a
postgraduate diploma in
legal practice from
Law Development Centre. In 2004, he acquired two certifications from the
International Development Law Organization; one in
Intellectual Property and another in
Public Procurement. He also has a
Master of Law degree (2007) in
election and
cyber
Cyber may refer to:
Computing and the Internet
* ''Cyber-'', from cybernetics, a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory and purposive systems
Crime and security
* Cyber crime, crime that involves computers and networks
** Conventi ...
law from the
University of Minnesota.
Career
After graduating as a lawyer, Oboth-Oboth served as the
Deputy Attorney General for Tieng Adhola Cultural Institution.
He also secured employment in the
Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs as a
state attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...
. He worked in
Mbale for some time as the State Attorney
Mbale Regional Office before going to the United States to pursue a
master's degree in election and cyber law at the University of Minnesota.
Upon his return in 2007, Oboth-Oboth resumed his work in government until 2010 when he resigned to join
active politics. His stay in the US had enabled him to acquire
donor
A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as rep ...
s who offered to initiate projects in his constituency, and that in a way helped sway voters to his side. He found it easy to reach out to the poor in his constituency because he was seen as one of them.
Jacob Oboth-Oboth was first elected as West Budama South MP (Independent) in 2011 after defeating the then State Minister for Labor,
Dr Emmanuel Otaala, who subsequently but unsuccessfully challenged his victory in the
Courts of law. He retained his seat in 2016 after polling 20,653 votes against the
NRM candidate, Phibby Awere Otaala's 19, 462 votes. Oboth-Oboth set the record for being the first legislator to be elected for a second successive term in this constituency which had not re-elected an
incumbent MP to Parliament since 1996.
In the 9th Parliament, Oboth-Oboth was the chairperson of the ''Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges'' and the parliamentary ad hoc committee to investigate the electricity sub sector; the ''Committee on Natural Resources''. In the 10th Parliament, he is the chairperson of the ''Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee'' and a member of the ''Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges'' and the ''Business Committee''.
See also
*
Tororo District
References
External links
Website of the Parliament of Uganda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oboth-Oboth, Jacob
1971 births
Living people
People from Tororo District
Makerere University alumni
Law Development Centre alumni
University of Minnesota Law School alumni
Adhola people
Members of the Parliament of Uganda
Independent politicians in Uganda
21st-century Ugandan lawyers
21st-century Ugandan politicians