By Conan Businge

After close to three years of service, the Education Service Commission Permanent Secretary, Dr. John Geoffrey Mbabazi, is on his way out.

The head of Public Service, John Mitala, informed Mbabazi in a letter that the appointing authority had decided not to renew his contract.

The letter was sent to Mbabazi at the end of last month. Mbabazi and four others had submitted their applications to Mitala to have their contracts renewed. He was one of the four successful candidates out of 37 people who attended the Education Service Commission interviews for the job.

Mbabazi was advised to “properly hand over” his office “to the next most senior person at the secretariat of the education commission.”

Mbabazi has been serving as Permanent Secretary since 2009. He became director of education at the ministry in 2006 and oversaw the implementation of the Universal Secondary Education programme, which was launched in 2007.

He was the principal of Uganda Technical College Kichwamba when the ADF rebels abducted 80 and killed 40 students in 1998.