Keith Muhakanizi dies at 64 after battling cancer for years

Keith Muhakanizi, one of the longest-serving technocrats in President Museveni’s government, died last evening at the age of 64.
The Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister and former Secretary to Treasury, died in a Milan hospital after battling cancer for years. 
   
Muhakanizi, who until his death was the last man standing in an elite league of the late Chris Kassami and late Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, spent decades at the Ministry of Finance since graduation from Makerere University. 
In July 2021, President Museveni sent Muhakanizi to Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) as Permanent Secretary. 
 

As a macro- economist, and a public sector management specialist, Mr Muhakanizi helped in the formulation of National Development Plans, Public Finance and Management Act, The Bank of Uganda Act among others.  
He also played a key role in revenue mobilisation, introduced commitment control systems that guided development and execution of economic policies for more than a decade at the Ministry of Finance.
 
As a young graduate economist, Muhakanizi rose through the ranks to the prestigious role of Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury, replacing his former boss, the late Kassami who retired in 2013 and died in 2016 at a Nairobi hospital.  
The same words Muhakanizi used when describing his boss Kassami at his death, are the same words Mr Jim Mugunga, one of the longest-serving Ministry of Finance Spokespersons, used last evening as he paid homage to a man who played a central role in the formulation and implementation of economic reforms that restored the Uganda’s macro-economic stability and other reforms in the economy.

Mr Mugunga described Muhakanizi as “a true public servant, a professional economist, a very good manager, a stickler, an administrator and a parent.”
Muhakanizi served as a member of the boards for the several organisations. He served on BoU board,  was chairman of East African Development Bank and chairman of Housing Finance Bank Limited and worked with the various ministries, agencies and government departments to streamline accountability and budget discipline.

As PS in the OPM, a ministry responsible for coordinating, monitoring, and supervising government programmes and projects, Mr Muhakanizi wrote in one of his last memos on iron sheets scandal, guiding subordinates on the rightful procedures of official communication as stipulated in the standing orders (Uganda Public Service Standing Orders 2021) and management of public resources.

In the February 15 circular, he wrote that “requisitions [to stores] from user departments shall be originated and or endorsed by the head of department before submission to the accounting officer. Where requests have been originated by ministers/political leaders, local government or other stakeholders, technical assessments of the requests shall be carried out by the responsible department prior to approval by the accounting officer.”