Onapito Ekomoloit April 1966 – September 2024

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Former Press Secretary to the President Onapito Ekomoloit,58, is dead.

Former Minister Mike Mukula made the announcement in the past one hour on X, saying Ona, as he was fondly called, passed on early today after a short illness. He was reportedly diagnosed with cancer of the lungs that had damaged 80 percent of its capacity. He started chemotherapy and passed on this morning.

Ona is the current Board Chairman of Nile Breweries Ltd and on the council of elders of St Peter’s College Tororo. He had been a long serving Nile Breweries Corporate Director, and also as a journalist, is remembered as the founder of the Crusader Newspaper that folded with the collapse of the Greenland Bank.

“On behalf of the Teso community and the country at large I hereby announce we deep sadness and Pain demise of our brother Hon ONAPITO OKOMOLOIT (RIP) a veteran journalist and former member of parliament AMURIA county …the rest of the details will be communicated later,” Mukula said of the former MP of Amuria.

Onapitio in the past year published his book “Tears & Triumph” and also wedded his wife Cathy in February this year. He had in October last year, lost his first wife Margaret Aanyu, mother to his first son. She was Chief Magistrate in Soroti.

“Ona ! One of our finest in the journalism profession. Humble but rebellious, to make your point without offending, without “uprooting the pumpkin in the old homestead” You have made your mark, softly,vleft footprints, for posterity. Fare thee well. Rest in victory, Ona,” said his former Editor in Chief at The Monitor, Wafula Oguttu.

Don Wanyama, a former press secretary said “Ndugu Onapito Ekomoloit was a good man. Deeply knowledgeable, respectful and humble. It was always a learning experience the couple of times our paths crossed. We mourn with his family, the people of Teso and the media fraternity. May his ancestors receive him with favour.”

Parliament spokesman Chris Obore said, “An icon. A gentleman. Humble. Traditionally grounded. Intellectually exposed. Teso did not deserve to lose you. It sucks & hurts. Onapito Ekomoloit!”

Prof. Pakoyo Kamba, Chairperson of the St. Peter’s College Tororo old boys association (SPECTOBA) said he was heartbroken by the sad news about the loss of a distinguished brother.

“Another black day in quick succession for St. Peter’s College Tororo and SPECTOBA. Let’s pull together as we mourn our brother and celebrate his life. We have lost a lion who loved and lived TC, and was ever present to share TC greatness. It will be difficult to come to terms with his passing, but we have little choice. We pray for his family, and for his soul to be granted a holy rest.”

St Peter’s College last month lost a former headmaster in tragic circumstances

Two months earlier, Onapito was among the chief guests as Chief Justice Owiny Dollo launched a sh3billion drive in Kampala to rehabilitate their former school, St Peter’s College in Tororo.