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 Certif ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. 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. He also served as the elected Member of Parliament 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 were excised to form sepa ...

on 6 April 1952. He studied at Ntare School. Serapio Rukundo holds the degree of

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

, majoring in

Accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

, obtained from

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

, 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 uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

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 Museven ...

which took place in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

, Uganda's

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. 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. Freq ...

. # 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 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 the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. He belongs to the

National Resistance Movement The National Resistance Movement (; 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 war through its rebel wing National ...

political party.

References

External links