Serapio Rukundo is a Ugandan

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certi ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was the State Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in the Ugandan Cabinet, from 1 June 2006 until 27 May 2011. In the cabinet reshuffle of 27 May 2011, he was dropped from the cabinet and replaced by

Agnes Akiror Agnes Akiror Egunyu (born 28 July 1968), known as Agnes Akiror, is a Ugandan politician. She is the current State Minister for Teso Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda. She was appointed to that position on 6 June 2016. Prior to that, from 27 May 2 ...

. He also served as the elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

representing Kabale Municipality from 2001 until 2011. During the 2011 national election cycle, he lost the Kabale Municipality parliamentary seat to Andrew Baryayanga.

Background and education

He was born in

Kabale District Kabale District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. Kabale hosts the district headquarters. It was originally part of Kigezi District, before the districts of Rukungiri, Kanungu, Kisoro, Rubanda and Rukiga and were excised to form s ...

on 6 April 1952. He studied at

Ntare School Ntare School is a residential all-boys' secondary school located in Mbarara, Mbarara District, south western Uganda. It was founded in 1956 by a Scottish educator named William Crichton. Location The school is approximately , by road, north ...

. Serapio Rukundo holds the degree of

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, M ...

, majoring in Accounting, obtained from

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

, Uganda's oldest university.

Career

From 1976 until 1978, he worked as an

at Mvule Saw Mill, a private

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

factory. He then served as Senior Accountant at ''Woods Industries Corporation Limited'', another private company, from 1978 until 1980. In 1980 he moved to the Uganda Development Bank, serving as the Accounts Manager until 1989. In 1989, he was appointed Chief Accountant at National Housing and Construction Corporation, serving in that capacity for twelve years until 2001. In 2001, at the age of 49, he entered politics, contesting for the parliamentary seat of Kabale Municipality. He won and was re-elected in 2006. However, in 2011, he lost his parliamentary seat on 18 March, and was dropped from the cabinet on 27 May.

Controversy

During his five-year tenure as State Minister for Tourism, he came under criticism on two counts: # While appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of Uganda in December 2009, he denied recommending the inclusion of an unfinished hotel on the list of establishments earmarked to host delegates for the

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007 The 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 20th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Kampala, Uganda, between 23 November and 25 November 2007, and was hosted by President Yoweri Mu ...

which took place in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and ...

, Uganda's

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

. J&M Hotel received government funds amounting to USh2.7 billion (approx.1.2 million in 2007 money), only two days to the opening day of CHOGM 2007, hosted no conference event and no delegate slept there because it was still under construction, according to the report issued by the government's

Auditor General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Fre ...

. # In July 2011, the former State Minister for Tourism stated that he did not know much about the ''Protected Areas Management and Sustainable Use'' (PAMSU) project under the tourism ministry. "Rukundo also admitted that he supported a proposal for an additional US$43 million, to ostensibly complete unfinished activities without getting a report on how the previous US$38 million was spent". "Rukundo admitted that the PAMSU project had flaws and that there was no value for money". All this took place during the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry into alleged mismanagement of

Uganda Wildlife Authority The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is a semi-autonomous Ugandan government agency that aims to conserve, manage and regulate Uganda’s wildlife. "UWA is mandated to ensure sustainable management of wildlife resources and supervise wildlife a ...

funds. The chairman of the commission, retired Justice George Kanyeihamba described the former minister as incompetent.

Personal affairs

Serapio Rukundo is married. He is reported to enjoy

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

. He belongs to the

National Resistance Movement The National Resistance Movement ( sw, Harakati za Upinzani za Kitaifa; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986. History The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla w ...

political party.

References

External links