A staunch born-again Christian, Julius Achon welcomed his loss to the Uganda Athletics Federation top seat in January 2014 as a blessing in disguise.

As country went to the polls last week, the former 1500m World Junior Champion, was one of the many elected to represent Ugandans in parliament.

I am not the kind who cries over spilled milk, I am one person who believes that when one door closes, God will open another one. And maybe he wanted be not to serve athletics in Uganda alone but go to a bigger office and serve sports in general

Achon told Kawowo Sports in an exclusive interview on Saturday evening before adding.

Am a sportsman, who knows what my colleagues go through to represent this country, those are things I hope to improve. I plan to do a lot of lobbying for sponsorship through the government for our sports sector. I have contacts which are more than willing to invest in Ugandan sports industry, I am working with Nike and they are already excited about my achievements

From Lira District, Achon will be the Member of Parliament elect for Otuke Constituency, an area he had devoted his life to serving for the last seven years.

Although sports will be my main agenda when I go to parliament, I want to serve my people too, I have done a lot in the past seven years, like a Health Centre Four where people can receive medication something that wasn’t there in the past as people used to die because of not getting proper medication.

The 2005 Bronze medalist at the All Africa Games in Harare, Zimbabwe might be the oldest Achon in Lira but because of his works there are more Achons living and probably more on their way.

I bought a Toyota Land Cruiser the community uses as an ambulance, and there 17 children named after me because their mothers gave birth in the ambulance on their way to hospital, the girls are named after my wife Grace

Achon is one of the many sportsmen who have had a shot at politics, but majority of those have forgotten where they came from despite riding in that to attain political victories, the 39-year old hopes not to be like his predecessors. 

Senior staff writer at Kawowo Sports mainly covering volleyball, football and badminton

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