Tribute to our loving papa, JRO Elangot, five years remembered today
Five years have passed, but the love and memories remain. We remember your wisdom, your sense of humour, your strength and the reassurance of having you near. Sometimes, your presence alone was enough to make everything feel okay.
The late JRO Elangot
TRIBUTE
A legacy of service, generosity, nation-building, family and Community
Papa, today, 6 November 2026, marks five years since you left us. Yet we can still hear your voice and laughter and remember the warmth of your presence.
We miss you in the everyday moments, at family gatherings, and whenever we wish we could turn to you for advice.
Five years have passed, but the love and memories remain. We remember your wisdom, your sense of humour, your strength and the reassurance of having you near. Sometimes, your presence alone was enough to make everything feel okay.
You taught us so much through the way you lived. You welcomed people and made them feel valued, no matter how busy or tired you were. Your kindness and unwavering support shaped our lives and continue to guide us.
This anniversary, we also pause to honour your contribution to our nation, Uganda. As a family, we are proud of the part you played in building institutions during the years following independence. You accepted responsibilities that helped shape the country’s administration, housing and financial services.
Your contribution to banking and national development
We remember with particular pride your work among the founding executives of the Bank of Uganda in 1966, where you served as its first Secretary and later as Deputy Governor. In 2026, as the Bank marks sixty years since its establishment, we honour your contribution to its beginnings.
Your signature on Uganda’s early banknotes remains a lasting connection between your service and the country’s history. For us, it is also a personal reminder of our Papa and the responsibilities entrusted to him.
We equally appreciate your foundational contribution to Uganda Development Bank, where you served as Secretary. Your work helped establish an institution intended to support Uganda’s economic development and create opportunities for enterprise.
Helping lay the foundations for national housing
Your contribution to the establishment of the National Housing Corporation in 1964, the predecessor of today’s National Housing and Construction Company, deserves lasting recognition.
As Acting Under Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Labour, you helped undertake the policy planning and administrative groundwork needed to put the new institution into operation.
An important part of this work was leading a Ugandan delegation to Ghana to study housing development. On your return, you advocated for Uganda to learn from the approaches you had witnessed, helping advance a vision of organised housing that could give more families the opportunity to own a home.
You went on to serve as the first Secretary of the National Housing Corporation. We honour your part in its early foundations and the ambition behind that work: making decent housing more accessible, including to people on low and middle incomes.
It gives us pride to know that work you helped begin has continued beyond your lifetime.
Remembering the people whose lives you touched
Papa, we also remember the many people you helped and supported over the years. Your legacy lives in their memories as well as our own.
Your friendships extended across communities and backgrounds. We remember your close relationship with the Karia’s family and your support for members of Uganda’s Asian community. These relationships form an important part of your story and remind us of the welcome you extended to others.
To many, you were a colleague, mentor, friend or trusted adviser. To others, you were simply “Uncle Bob”—someone they could approach and whose presence they valued.
Our beloved Papa
Alongside these public achievements are the memories we hold closest: the stories you told, the songs you sang in Ateso, and the times we gathered at home around a pot of Ajon.
We miss your laughter and your guidance—and, Papa, we still remember how often you were right! We miss the quiet moments too, when being together was enough.
You are our Papa, granddad, uncle, in-law, a friend and a clan leader. We remember the principled man and always very smart whose example taught us to work hard, care for others and stand by what we believe is right.
The things you loved have become precious parts of our lives. Your stories and lessons continue to be passed down, keeping your memory close within the family, friends and clan.
Although we can no longer see you, we find comfort in our faith and in the love you left with us. In the sunshine, in quiet evenings and in familiar songs, something will remind us of you, and for a moment you feel close again.
Thank you, Papa, for every lesson, every kindness and every beautiful memory. Thank you for the love you gave our family, the clan and for the service you gave your country.
We shall continue to honour you through the way we live, the care we show one another and the support we offer to others.
Five years on, you remain deeply loved and dearly missed.
Until we meet again, rest in eternal peace, our beloved Papa. We shall forever love you.
By Dorothy Elangot, on behalf of the grandchildren, family and the Ikaribwok-Igetoma Clan