Ona’s pen runs out of ink, his legend lives on

“They discovered that he had cancer of the lungs, but he had not known. It had progressed to Grade IV, the last stage. So Kampala Hospital told him that it was too late,” Mr Nkunda said on Friday.

It was difficult for Onapito to engage anyone or in any public discourse, however serious it was, without adorning that trademark smile. 

That made it difficult for one to imagine the extent of adversity, including poverty, the death of his mother at an early stage and the brunt of a civil war that raged in Teso in the early days of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government that he had to overcome before he could make something out of himself.

Writing in his memoirs, Tears and Triumph, which was launched last year, the man who was born on April 26, 1966, in an impoverished family in Amuria, then part of Katakwi District, now Amuria District, revealed that his childhood ambition had been to become a lawyer. 

The point at which that changed, is unclear, but he ended up becoming part of the second intake of the Mass Communication class at Makerere in 1989.

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He was one of the many brilliant journalists, including Martin Lutalo Mpugu, Kyazze Ssemogerere, Vukoni Lupa Lasaga, Dismas Nkunda and Stephen Shalita, to mention but a few, who lit up Monitor’s newsroom at Dewinton Road. His worth as a journalist was perhaps best captured by lawyer and columnist Gawaya Tegulle in an August 2, 2020 article titled “Take a bow to some of the greatest names in Uganda’s journalism.”

“On occasion, the editor found it necessary to run Onapito’s opinion as a lead story. Nobody does that anyhow; which should tell you the stuff that Ona is made of,” Mr Gawaya wrote.

Proprietorship

Ona rose to become a sub-editor at the Monitor where his colleagues, Mpungu and Nkunda were senior sub-editors. In 1996, he would go on to lead a group of his colleagues out of The Monitor following a disagreement over pay. After leaving The Monitor, Ona and his colleagues started The Crusader newspaper.

The formation of The Crusader, however, occasioned changes in their stations at work.

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He became the editor-in-chief and the boss. The former senior colleagues were now answerable to him.

Joining politics

The man who had his secondary education at St Peter’s College Tororo, where he was a member of the council of elders, had never dreamt about joining politics, but events close to his stomping ground, Sun City Arcade, where The Crusader’s offices were, conspired to thrust him into it. The opportunity came in 1998 when Gen Jeje Odongo resigned his parliamentary seat and position in the Cabinet and was named Army Commander, taking on from Maj Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu.

“I was just going about my editorial work when several people approached me to replace Gen Odongo. I was hesitant but the pressure was overwhelming. I am lucky I won the election,” he told The Observer in an interview last year.

One of the marks that he left was the February 2000 Private Member’s Bill that he tabled seeking to have Article 113 of the 1995 Constitution amended to bar ministers from being legislators. 

The Bill was defeated on October 18, 2000. Ninety-seven lawmakers voted against it, with 72 in favour. 

The late Prof Apollo Nsibambi, who was the prime minister, hailed Ona for having taken the step.

“Hon Onapito has done us a favour to raise a number of important issues such as the overload of ministers and other problems,” Nsibambi said.

The energy Ona expended on legislation, however, soon exacted a toll on The Crusader. The closure of Greenland Bank did not help matters. The paper eventually folded in April 1999.

“In truth, I used to spare time to lend a hand at The Crusader, but the work at Parliament was immense. We struggled to keep The Crusader afloat until we had to let it go,” he told The Observer.

Serving the President

After he suffered defeat in the 2001 polls, Ona was appointed press secretary to the President. This was a time when Mr Museveni seemed to be consumed with using the electronic media to maintain a good public image. People like Onapito and Tamale Mirundi came in handy.

Even after Ona left State House, he continued being a regular panellist on some of the biggest radio and television talk shows like the Hot Seat on KFM and the Fourth Estate on NTV Uganda.

As press secretary, he came up with the idea of having a permanent media team following the President on the campaign trail. The practice has been maintained in all campaigns since 2006.

There were, however, unconfirmed reports of tensions between him and Ms Amelia Kyambadde, who was President Museveni’s principal private secretary (PPS). The abrupt manner in which he left State House to become the director of legal and corporate affairs at Nile Breweries fuelled that talk, but if ever there was bad blood between him and Ms Kyambadde, the events of June 16 last year when he handed over the legal and corporate affairs desk to become chairperson of the Board, suggest that the alleged tensions were water under the bridge. 

Ms Kyambadde was among the attendees at the function that also saw Ona launch his memoirs. Ms Kyambadde described Ona as a “tremendously diligent” calm and thoughtful debater. 

That show of camaraderie could, however, also be because Ona had always set out never to bear grudges or have enemies.

“There could be people out there who consider me enemies, but I have not given them an opportunity to come out and reveal that they don’t like me. I try my best not to hurt others,” he once said.

Dreams

In one of the last interviews that he gave last year, Ona revealed the kind of world that he hoped to work for.

“I have lived a satisfactory life and I hope I can continue living that way. I want to do things that uplift greater Teso and the whole of Uganda. In retirement, I will also play every role, both social and economic, as long as it helps the vulnerable get a decent life, especially in health and education,” he said.

He has sadly not lived long enough to see the vulnerable communities get the decent lives that he wished for them.

Onapito Ekomoloit is survived by a widow and children.