PS Keith Muhakanizi Dies in Italy

The Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Keith Muhakanizi is dead.

He passed on at a hospital in Milan, Italy, where he was admitted earlier this week.

Government spokesperson and Executive Director at the Media Centre, Ofwono Opondo said Muhakanizi had been at the hospital several times even before he was appointed to the last office.

Prior to his move to the OPM in 2020, he had been a long-serving Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, having been appointed in 2013.

Most of his active life was at the Finance Ministry and, together with the late Bank of Uganda Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, he was credited for the economic reform of the country and the public finance management.

This included creating a single treasury account for government finances.

“Keith knew the economics. Keith and Mutebile were the two civil servants in the Bank of Uganda who would hold their ground in front of the President,” said Opondo. He will, among other things, be remembered for his strong principles especially against government excesses and over borrowing.

Muhakanizi was born in Rukungiri District to the late Rev. Kosia Kajwengye and the late Zeridah Kajwengye.

Rosa Malango, the Director UN Regional Economic Commissions in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, who was UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, mourned him.

“As PS Ministry of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury, he fought to ensure the alignment of development assistance to national priorities,” she said in a tweet.