Former Presidential Press Secretary Francis Onapito Ekomoloit is dead.
Flight Captain Mike Mukula, in a post on X, said confirmed the death of the former journalist, legislator and corporate affairs manager at Nile Breweries Ltd.
Mr Mukula, one of the opinion leaders in Teso sub-region where Onapito hailed from, said “the rest of the details will be communicated later”.
Ms Margaret Muhanga, who was an editor at The New Vision when Onapito ran the show at The Crusader, said that his “great friend, a fine intellectual and meek and calm gentleman” succumbed to cancer.
It is understood Onapito was in stage 4 – the most advanced stage of the disease.
He was about 56 having retired from his corporate affairs role at Nile Breweries last year upon hitting the retirement age – which is 55 at the firm.
Onapito, popularly known as Ona, was a man for all seasons and one who rose from a very humble upbringing where he was raised by the community in Amuria.
Yet by 2006, he was in such good stead that he could afford to step down from what many consider a dream job as Presidential Press Secretary. Put another way, he had scaled the rungs of the ladder beyond his own wildest imagination.
Onapito had joined the presidency service in 2001 working with the late Joseph Tamale Mirundi, who would replace him, and the like of Amelia Kyambadde who was the PPS.
One of the pioneering Mass Communication students at Makerere, Onapito cut his journalism teeth at the New Argus where veteran journalist Michael Wakabi was his news editor.
His journalism journey would take him to The Monitor (now Daily Monitor) before joining the group of journalists who started The Crusader where he would rise to be the Editor in Chief.
The clout he earned at the weekly publisher and as a journalist would gain him enough following in 1998 when he joined politics in the wake of Gen Jeje Odongo’s appointment to head of the Ugandan army.
Gen Odongo had to relinguish his Amuria County MP seat in the then Katakwi District upon the appointment as army commander, and the bye-election that folowed saw Ona defeat Engineer John Kokas Emunyu.
In the polls on September 20, 1998, Ona polled a total of 6,167 votes (37.84%) against his rival’s 4,702 votes (28%).
But he would stay in Parliament for only one term.
After leaving the Presidency, Onapito walked into the corporate world at Nile Breweries where, for 17 years, he mastered the art of “selling happiness”.
The author of a poignant memoir, “Tears and Triumph,” had set his childhood dream on becoming a lawyer but in journalism, he walked the life many can only dream of.
Upon retirement from Nile Breweries in June last year, he was instead appointed as the Board Chiarman at the same firm.
