UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Governor of the Bank of Uganda, has died at the age of 72. Mutebile passed away this morning at Nairobi Hospital, according to Deputy Governor Micheal Atingi-Ego’s announcement.
Mutebile was brought to Nairobi Hospital after collapsing due to diabetic issues. He had been in and out of hospitals recently, mainly in Uganda and India, with bank officials attributing this to diabetic-related illnesses that had lately resulted in his kidneys deteriorating.
Born on January 27th, 1949, his death comes 4 days before his 73rd birthday.
Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, a skilled economist, had just begun a second term as Governor and Chairman of the Bank of Directors of Bank of Uganda, to which he was reappointed in 2021. Before being named Governor, he served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1992 until 2001.
Mutebile was the government’s primary monetary, fiscal, and economic counsellor as BOU’s chief executive, implementing measures like monetary policy, inflation targeting, and many more. He will be remembered for, among other things, speaking out against the government’s insatiable desire for borrowing and stifling the country’s cryptocurrency growth.
During his time as the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury in the Ministry of finance, planning, and economic development, he was also recognised for orchestrating the planning and engineering of the Economic Reform program that helped Uganda recover from the financial crises of the 1970s and 1980s and return to sound economic growth.
“Saddened to learn the passing of Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, one of the grandfathers of Uganda’s modern economy. We are better off today because of the reforms he spearheaded and the service he rendered. My sincere sympathies to his family and BOU,” Ramadhan Ggoobi, the Secretary to the Treasury, said this morning.
Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah noted that “saddened by the demise of Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile. We salute him for meritorious service as Governor of the Bank of Uganda and superintending economic recovery and stability. Commiserations to his family, banking fraternity and the nation at large.”
His term had also seen the liquidation of financial firms judged underperforming or mismanaged. While he argued that this was done to preserve consumer deposits and maintain the sector’s integrity, the liquidations were subsequently heavily criticised for being mismanaged and lacking transparency. A parliamentary investigation investigating bank closures in 2018 and 2019 endangered his career, however while it found multiple blunders, Mutebile was not directly involved.
Mutebile attended Kigezi College Butobere and Makerere College School in Kampala before enrolling at Makerere University in 1971. He served as Guild President and was remembered as a cornerstone by the institute. He did, however, finish his undergraduate studies at Durham University in England after fleeing Uganda after his scathing criticism of the government’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda.
He began his post-graduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1974. Still, He transferred to the University of Dar es Salaam to lecture and do research while obtaining his PhD in economics.
“I am saddened by the news of the passing on of our gallant alumnus Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile who has also been the Governor of the Bank of Uganda. While at Makerere, Professor Mutebile served as Guild President,” said Vice-Chancellor Prof Nawangwe.
Mutebile has also worked as a consultant for multilateral and regional organisations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of East and Central Africa, UK Department for International Development, Canada’s North-South Institute, and the governments of Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, and Nepal.
He temporarily worked as Deputy Principal Secretary to the President, Undersecretary, and eventually Chief Economist at the Ministry of Planning from 1979 and 1984. He was named Permanent Secretary to the newly formed Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development in 1992.
He has been the Chancellor of the International University of East Africa and a visiting professor in the Department of Economics at Makerere University since 2006.
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