Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile has been the Governor of the Bank of Uganda since 2001 until Sunday (January 23) when he died while in Nairobi where he had been flown for treatment.
BOU announced his death through Twitter, writing, “It is with profound sadness that the Bank of Uganda announces the death of its gallant Governor, Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime- Mutebile”
Many Ugandans have expressed sorrow at the passing of Mutebile. “Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, this great architect of Uganda’s economic recovery, this titan of our banking industry, this intelligent, magnanimous and generous soul, this friend of all and enemy of no one, rested this morning at 5.30am. RIP my friend! You have been a true giant!” Andrew Mwenda, a journalist wrote on his Twitter platform.
Who was Mutebile
Mutebile was born 73 years ago in Kabale and grew up there. He attended Kigezi College Butobere for his O-Level studies, later joining Makerere College for A-level and later joining Makerere University.
While at University, he was elected president of the university Students’ Guild.
He was forced to flee Uganda in 1972 after he gave a speech publicly criticizing the expulsion of Asians from the country by Idi Amin. He fled to England via Tanzania, and was able to finish his studies at Durham University, graduating with an upper-second in Economics and Politics.
Mutebiile was appointed to several government positions between, 1979 and 1984, ranging from deputy principal secretary to the president at State House in 1979, to undersecretary in the ministry of planning in 1981 where he rose to senior economist and then chief economist in 1984. In 1992, he was appointed permanent secretary to the newly combined ministry of finance planning & economic development.
He was appointed Governor in 2001 and he’s credited with formulating several brilliant economic policies adopted by the Uganda government at the urging of the central bank during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s.
Since 2006, he was a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at Makerere University.
He was the chancellor of the International University of East Africa.
In 2009, Nkumba University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree in recognition of his “great contribution towards the development of Uganda’s financial sector.
