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Kampala=Uganda. Former Presidential Press Secretary Onapito Ekomoloit Dies
Onapito Ekomoloit, the former head of legal and corporate affairs and board chairman of Nile Breweries Limited, has died at Kampala Hospital this morning.
Ekomoloit died at about 7 a.m. after a short illness, according to his sister Diana Acanit.
Acanit said that the veteran journalist had been bedridden for the last three days battling a lung infection.
Announcing his death, Mike Mukula, the National Resistance Movement Vice Chairperson in charge of Eastern Uganda and close friend to the deceased, said, “On behalf of the Teso community and the country at large, I hereby announce with deep sadness and pain the demise of our brother Onapito, a veteran journalist and former member of parliament Amuria county. The rest of the details will be communicated later.”
Ekomoloit, a former Amuria County MP, left politics and worked as the President’s Private Secretary before joining Nile Breweries Limited, where he served for 17 years as head of legal and corporate affairs.
He retired last year in June, and later he was appointed board chairman of Teso Fruit Factory.
Tributes pour in
Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, led the tributes, writing on her X handle, “ I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of our brother Onapito Ekomoloit. He was a journalist of excellence, a former Press Secretary to the President, and a former MP. His honest and humble contributions to our country speak for themselves. My heartfelt sympathies go out to H.E. @KagutaMuseveni , his family, friends, the press fraternity, the Nile Breweries family, and the Teso community. May his soul rest in peace.
Chris Obore, the Director of Communication at Parliament of Uganda, said, “an icon. A gentleman. Humble. Traditionally grounded. Intellectually exposed. Teso did not deserve to lose you. It sucks and hurts. Onapito Ekomoloit!”
Margaret Muhanga, who was an editor at The New Vision when Onapito ran the show at The Crusader, said that her “great friend, a fine intellectual and meek and calm gentleman,” succumbed to cancer.
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