Uganda, April 21 -- The story of Martin Aliker, a dental surgeon-a consummate diplomat-a shrewd negotiator and a nimble boardroom titan, remains incomplete without the role of his father, Lacito Okech, the titular head of the Lamogi clan who served as a clerk in Gulu in the bureaucratic pre-colonial State under British rule.

It is this fascinating time capsule of Uganda's colonial era that perhaps helped Okech to navigate his son's trajectory from the red-rutted paths of his birthplace at Aworanga village on the outskirts of Gulu, to scale the lofty heights.

Okech, a linguist who spoke Arabic and English, was able to use his ties with the British and Buganda aristocracy to secure his son a place at Kings College Budo, which flung the do...