Bigirimana lauds First Lady in two new books
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda (R), Gender ministry Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana (C) and his wife Elizabeth at the launch the books at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel last Friday. PHOTO BY ERIC DOMINIC BUKENYA
What you need to know:
Recovery. The permanent secretary has authored two books detailing the challenges of recovery in northern Uganda and youth unemployment.
Kampala. After surviving a scandal in 2013 following a high profile corruption scandal that took place in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), the Gender ministry permanent secretary, Mr Pius Bigirimana wrote a book: Corruption; A Tale of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing.
President Museveni wrote the foreward to the book before he launched it in September 2014. .
One man was at the centre of the OPM scandal—Mr Bigirimana, the accounting officer at OPM then. Parliament, after a probe, wanted Mr Bigirimana sacked but President Museveni insisted that he was a whistleblower.
Mr Bigirimana, in his book, thanked Mr Museveni for standing by him. He also warned the President against “wolves” in State House, in Parliament and in government ministries and departments.
Mr Bigirmana has again authored two new books, in which he narrates the implementation of the programmes for the recovery of northern Uganda from the destructive upheavals of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war.
The first book: From Tears to Cheers: A brief analysis of Reconstruction of Northern Uganda from 2007–2012 and the second one is: Youth Livelihood: A Model for Empowering Youth in the Developing World. The two books were launched last Friday by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda.
Acclaim
The author acclaims First Lady Janet Museveni’s leadership of Karamoja docket, noting that she had shown total commitment to the people of Karamoja.
The First Lady wrote the foreward to the first book: From Tears to Cheers.
She recounts the country’s painful past- the LRA insurgency and explains her achievements in Karamoja sub-region.
The First Lady said Mr Bigirimana’s book is a valuable source of information for those in Uganda, and in Africa, who want to cause change and get their populations out of poverty.
The First Lady says in Karamoja sub-region, social distress was taking place, caused by cattle rustlers, intra-district raids, between clans, and international or cross-border raids when Kenyan tribes like the Turkana attacked.
“My direct involvement with northern Uganda came when I was appointed Minister for Karamoja Affairs. I have always regarded my work in the Karamoja sub-region as a calling to serve a people who had been neglected for decades. I was convinced that the region could pull itself out of reliance on relief food aid and incessant warring and insecurity,” the First Lady wrote.
The second book is about the insidious problem of youth unemployment in a country of more than 34.6 million people.
