By Mulengera Reporters
Until recently, President Museveni considered making Uganda’s leading reformist PS Pius Bigirimana (currently a PhD student at UMI) the new Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs.
However, the President changed his mind when it was impressed upon him that there was need for Bigirimana to keep around longer and consolidate the reforms and transformation that has been occasioned at the Judiciary since the man from Kisoro was deployed there to serve as the Accounting Officer.
The need to post Bigirimana at defence was informed by the President’s desire to find a perfect replacement for the long-serving PS there Madam Rosette Byengoma who for sometime now has been pleading with the appointing authority to let her go. Byengoma isn’t only elderly but has also been battling frail health for some good time now, leaving Under Secretary Edith Buturo (wife to former Ethics & Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo) to contend with a lot of work at the Mbuya-based Ministry.
Museveni was also convinced that Bigirimana’s energy and thirst for results would go a long way in bolstering the defence-related reforms the current CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has been and continues to spearhead at Mbuya and elsewhere in the country.
In a related development, there is growing anxiety that lots of changes are going to be made among Permanent Secretaries immediately after Gen Museveni winning the 2026 elections.
Already several qualified Ugandans are being vetted and having their CVs scrutinized by security as Gen Museveni prepares to fill the PS-level vacuum that will certainly be created resulting from the impending departure or retirement of seasoned PSs like Rose Kafeero of the IGG, Rosette Byengoma of Defence, Waiswa Bageya of Works, Dorcus Okalany of Lands and Hajji Yunnus Kakande who powerfully serves as Secretary Office of the President.(For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
