By Mulengera Reporters
For much of Saturday evening, the mood among senior citizens interacting on one of the Busoga whatsapp forums was one of joy and excitement. Why? News had come through that Aggrey Kibenge, one of the sub region’s most illustrious civil servants, had been appointed Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Trade. The coveted position has been vacant since the death of Ambassador Julius Onen.
Mulengera News verified with official Government of Uganda sources that are supposed to be in the firm know whenever the President makes such appointments and we confirmed indeed the man from Rwakitura had appointed Kibenge who has also been a strong pillar supporting First Lady Janet Museveni and her PS Alex Kakooza at the Education Ministry.
But like all good things, the PS position didn’t come that easily for Kibenge who (as we shall later show in this article) started out years ago as a volunteer working in the Education Ministry on the UNSA desk.
Originally interviews were conducted by the Public Service Commission to get a suitable technocrat to replace Deborah Katuramu as Secretary Office of the President. This was after Ms Katuramu was elevated to deputize the venerable John Mitala who will soon bow out as Head Public Service/Secretary to Cabinet. Back then, 30 big name civil servants applied for the job and Kibenge was among them.
Three levels of interviews were conducted back then. After the shortlisting, candidates were subjected to written interviews which were followed with another interview called “in-tray” and finally the oral one. Kibenge excelled at all. The “in-tray” tests hands-on capabilities whereby the candidates show how fast they can think and act when faced with an emergency of sorts at a Ministry.
For instance, how do you quickly adjust in case your Minister is away and you are suddenly required to represent him/her and the Ministry at a high-level meeting. Supposing you are called upon to attend and address a high-level meeting at State House, how fast can you act without being overcome by any difficulties?
How well can you think through an urgent speech you might be required to make on behalf of the Ministry or sector? And this interview is conducted orally in the presence of the PSC panel members and the peers with whom you are competing for the job. The peers actually are the ones who score your performance.
Kibenge was the best at the three sets of interviews namely; written, in-tray and finally oral. Numbers kept dropping from the original 30 to 27 and eventually 6 from whom one best was chosen and the name sent to the President for formal appointment and deployment.
The in-tray was so elaborate and detailed that the PSC panel took hours interviewing and interacting with each of the candidates to the extent three would be covered each day.
But being the President, Museveni has a lot of discretionary powers to exercise. He picked Hajji Yunnus Kakande, the Office of the President Under Secretary who had even retired, to replace Deborah Katuramu whom he had been deputizing for years. Not that amiable Hajji Yunnus had been one of the best. No. This was President Museveni exercising his discretion.
That was the end of the process. But PSC kept the names, the records and so when Ambassador Julius Onen died, there had to be a process. Unrelenting as ever, Kibenge still showed interest and subjected himself to the PSC bureaucrats once again. He remained top of the range and his name was once again sent to the H.E. as the most suitable out of the many equally excellent technocrats who had showed interest in replacing Onen.
The man from Rwakitura who no doubt knows Kibenge’s capabilities, given the excellent services he has rendered under Janet Museveni and at OPM before that, this time round found no reason not to nod to his posting at Trade where Amelia Kyambadde will be relieved to have him on board.
KIBENGE PROFILE
He has done well serving at the Education Ministry because he had lots of institutional memory having first joined the sector as a volunteer while still serving as vice president for UNSA which since the Amanya Mushega days has been housed at MoES. Having been mentored by the best (like Apollo Nsibambi, Kiddu Makubuya, Stephen Malooba, Florence Malinga, PSs Amb Emmanuel Sendawula, Opiko Opoka, Ben Otto, Fr. Pius Tibanyendera, Chris Kassami and eventually FX Lubanga), Kibenge has often been delegated to act whenever his equally versatile supervisor and boss Alex Kakooza is away.
From FX Lubanga, he learnt to always despise mediocrity when preparing official documents and this is one of the many skills he has generously made available to Janet who never misses having him around during those high level donor meetings at Nakasero, Entebbe or even abroad. Whenever Mr. Kakooza is unable to make it, it’s his 2nd in command Kibenge who has been travelling with Minister Janet. Gratefully even H.E. the President appreciates Kibenge’s capabilities as an efficient bureaucrat.
Kibenge has a degree in education from Kyambogo and started out with a diploma from Kakoba NTC whereafter he taught at City High in Kampala with contemporaries like tourism PS Doreen Katusiime. Having been with the Ministry as a volunteer in the UNSA office since 1990s, Kibenge has been treasured for knowing so much and Janet has always considered herself privileged to have him as a core member of her team. As Minister, Amanya Mushega was so fond of him he ensured he wrote ministerial speeches besides taking minutes during top management meetings.
Kibenge those days remained a volunteer for a while because of the government-wide ban on recruitment which was only lifted in late 1990s prompting FX Lubanga (who had just been made PS from the Decentralization Secretariat) to finally recruit him formally. He started out as Assistant Secretary in 1999, became PA to Minister Apollo Nsibambi, SAS general duties, PAS in 2006 and eventually Undersecretary in 2010. This vast experience explains why Kibenge was made MoES spokesperson when Amb Ocato joined NCHE.
MISSED AT OPM
In around October 2016 Aggrey Kibenge was moved from OPM back to Education where he had worked before as Undersecretary Finance and Administration to help new PS Alex Kakooza cope with this larger than life sector. Sources say that when Janet expressed disgust with some technocrats of the Dr. Rose Nassali-era, Museveni asked intelligence to head hunt and recommend to him the best suitable person to join Janet and Alex Kakooza at education to make sure everything goes well. That is how the intelligence reports strongly recommended Kibenge whose name Janet readily accepted having worked with him at OPM in the Karamoja docket where the new education minister appreciated his integrity, hard work and efficiency.
Christine Kintu Guwatudde, the PS for OPM greatly missed Kibenge who had been a key actor in her core team at OPM which is equally vast and very demanding. She was advised to improvise and work with Ethel Kamba, Collins Dombo, Keti Lamaro and Joel Wanjara as undersecretaries as Kibenge rejoined Education where he was first mentored by ex-PS FX Lubanga many years earlier. Sources say when it emerged, intelligence briefs were favoring Kibenge, Janet the education Minister gave her no objection saying “he is hard working and is someone we can do business with at education having worked with him well at OPM.” That is how Kibenge was in late 2016 brought back to education from OPM.
In fact, Kibenge, whose return at education excited many, reported for work on a Monday morning immediately after PSC agreed to fast track his relocation. Kibenge has 23 years of experience as a civil servant in finance and administration matters with a relevant masters degrees from Makerere University. He has over the years risen through the ranks having started out as PRO for education ministry years ago. He initially was in education between 1993 and 2012 when he went to OPM. He was key in developing relevant policies, strategies and programmes including UPE, USE & UPPET under PS Lubanga’s supervision. As PRO he was active in marketing these mass education programs. He is an accomplished leader and sportsman in his own right.
He was Focal Point Officer for a number of sector priority programmes such as environmental education activities within the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) sub-region; Deputy HIV and AIDS Sector Coordinator and East African Community (EAC) Desk Officer. In his latter role, he served as a member of the EAC High Level Task Force that negotiated the Common Market Protocol. He gained immense national and international exposure as a result of his responsibilities and versatile character.
After Makerere where he at first trained as a teacher, Kibenge briefly taught at City High School (1985-88) along with peers like Doreen Katusiime and was an accomplished student/youth leader who served as Vice Chairman for UNSA. He was also active in formation of youth councils. On joining MOES he was posted as Senior Assistant Secretary (SAS/FA) by the Public Service Commission in 1999 and retained at the Ministry of Education and Sports. In November 2005, he was promoted to the rank of Principal Assistant Secretary (PAS/FA) and after holding the Office of Undersecretary Finance and Administration (US/FA) in acting capacity from March 2009, gained full promotion to the rank of Under Secretary in the year 2010.
In February 2012 he briefly worked at the Ministry of Tourism as the pioneer Under Secretary. It had just been created from mother ministry of Trade & Industry. After 7 months at Tourism he was transferred to OPM where he worked for 4 years as Under Secretary under PS Guwatudde Kintu. Kibenge is among the pioneer students of the Leadership and Change Management programme run by the Uganda Civil Service College (Jinja).
He used to represent OPM on the Management Committee that runs the Jinja College. He also served as a Facilitator for a number of topics in the programs run by Civil Service College. At the OPM he was part of the team that implemented reforms aimed at restoring the OPM’s image after the Kazinda scandal. A great team player, at OPM Kibenge was Chairperson of the OPM Sports Club and always promoted CSR initiatives aimed at positively portraying the OPM. He is also renowned for resenting intrigue ever minding his business at the work place, an additional attribute Janet could have admired at a time when she was trying to reunite staffers after many years of antagonnistic camps (loyal to ex-Minister Alupo and ex-PSs Lubanga and Nassali Lukwago) at the Embassy House-based Ministry. (For comments, call or text us on 0200900416 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).