Opiyo Oloya is an educator, researcher and published author. Born and raised in Gulu in Northern Uganda, he became involved in national political activism for democratic reforms during the early 1980s. As President of the Makerere University Student Guild, he publicly condemned the 1980 National Election as fraudulent. He was asked to surrender, but he chose exile: first in Kenya, and subsequently as a refugee in Canada. He completed his BA Hons and Bachelor of Education at Queen’s University, Kingston; M.ED at the University of Ottawa; and PhD at York University.
Opiyo Oloya’s areas of interest include child-inducted soldiers; conflict and war in Africa; regional, continental and global security; and counter-terrorism and international affairs. He currently works with the York Catholic District School Board, north of Toronto. His book, Becoming A Child Soldier (University of Toronto Press, 2013), was the culmination of research conducted in the war zone in Northern Uganda - and for which he was awarded his aforementioned PhD in October 2010.
Beginning in August 2010 to the present, he has travelled every summer to Somalia as a war and peace researcher - working alongside the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops based in the country. In April 2013 York University awarded Opiyo Oloya an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) for work in Africa generally and Somalia specifically.
His popular column, ‘Letter from Toronto’, has been published weekly since 1996 in the New Vision Newspaper, Uganda. His writing informs on security and defence; education; social and scientific issues on Continental Africa; and global politics. Many of his articles are used as teaching tools in major universities across East Africa.
He is married to Emily and they have two sons, Oceng and Ogaba
