Francis Onapita Ekomuloit, a former journalist, former Member of Parliament and former Presidential spokesperson is dead.
His death was announced on Friday by the National Resistance Movement vice president for Eastern Uganda Mike Mukula.
“On behalf of the Teso community and the country at large I hereby announce [with] deep sadness and pain[the]demise of our brother Hon Onapito Ekomoloit a veteran journalist and former member of parliament Amuria county,” Mukula’s post on his X page reads.
It was not immediately clear what caused his death although there are suggestions that recently he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Ona, as he has been fondly known by his friends, has been the chairperson of the board of Nile Breweries Limited, a beer company.
He first worked for the Monitor where he rose to the position of editor before breaking away to start his newspaper the Crusader.
In 1998, Ona, contested in a byelection for Amuria County Member of Parliament which he won. However, in the general election of 2001, he was defeated.
In 2002, he was appointed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as a Press Secretary, a position he occupied up to 2006 and thereafter joined Nile Breweries as its Corporate Affairs Manager.
Before his death, he served as the chairperson of its board. Ona has been a regular panellist on radio and television. He is survived by a wife and children.
He was among the pioneer journalist students at Makerere University where he also taught for some years.
He was also among the first journalism graduates to work in a media house. He first worked for the Monitor where he rose to the position of editor before breaking away to start his newspaper the Crusader.
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