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KAMPALA - Uganda's Annette Mutaawe Ssemuwemba has been appointed the acting Secretary General following the exit of  Dr. Peter Mathuki.

Her assignment was announced on Tuesday, April 16 after the 52nd Extraordinary Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EAC).

“The Council agreed on the withdrawal of Dr. Peter Mathuki as the Secretary General with immediate effect. The Council appointed the Deputy Secretary General Annette Ssemuwemba as acting Secretary General with immediate effect from April 16, 2024, until the new Secretary General is appointed by the summit,” said Ambassador Anne Katusiime Head EAC Liaison Officer Arusha.

The Secretary-General is the principal executive and accounting officer of the Community as well as the Secretary of the Summit; he/she is appointed by the Summit for a fixed five-year, non-renewable term and is held on a rotational basis.

Katusiime who is also the Consul General of the Ugandan High Commission in Tanzania announced the development in her letter to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Col (Rtd) Fred Mwesigye Uganda's High Commissioner in Dar-es-Salaam.

“The Council also considered the budget of the community for the financial year, 2024 and also directed the tour company to not issue any ticket to Dr. Mathuki, and any previously issued tickets should be cancelled with immediate effect,” Katusiime further revealed.

The appointment of Ssemuwemba came in the wake of the March withdrawal of Dr. Mathuki by Kenyan President William Ruto. For replacement, Kenya nominated Caroline Mwende Mueke. 

However on Tuesday,  Kenya in a fresh communication to the Council of Ministers of EAC announced that Veronica Mueni Nduva is the new candidate N In the Meantime, Deputy Secretary-General Annette Mutaawe Semuwemba, will hold Fort until Summit Meets.

On March 6, 2024 during the opening session of the 5th East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in Nairobi, addressed by President Ruto, allegations arose that the SG had spent $6m (sh23b) without appropriation by the regional parliament.

According to Dennis Namara, Uganda’s representative to EALA, the money, like any monies coming through the consolidated fund, must be approved by parliament before being spent.

However, Kenya replaced Mueke, the nominee for East African Community (EAC) secretary-general, just two days before her expected swearing-in and said it would instead unveil Nduva as the regional bloc's next secretary-general ahead of EAC council of ministers that was held on Tuesday 16 April.

In a letter dated April 15 2024 and addressed to Deng Alor Kuol, South Sudan's minister for EAC affairs and the current chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for EAC Affairs Peninah Malonza gave no reasons for President Ruto's decision to appoint another candidate.

On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, congratulated Nduva and said she was honoured to have received the initial nomination for the position of SG.

"I was deeply honoured to receive the initial nomination for the position of Secretary General to serve the people of the East African Community. I thank His Excellency the President of Kenya for this nomination," she said.

"I extend my congratulations to PS Veronica Nduva on her nomination. I will continue to serve the Community in my current capacity at the United Nations. May God bless Kenya and East Africa."

Who is Ssemuwemba?

Prior to being appointed Deputy EAC Secretary General, Ssemuwemba was Deputy Executive Director at the Executive Secretariat for the Enhanced Integrated Framework at the World Trade Organization. In this role, she is designated as the Chief Operating Officer responsible for the design of projects and programmes to support the least developed countries’ (LDC) trade capacity development.

She also previously worked as the Chief Strategy and Results Officer and member of the Senior Leadership team at TradeMark East Africa. In this role, she was responsible for strategy execution and results delivery across a portfolio of countries in East Africa.

She is an international development professional with over 20 years of experience in international trade and development, primarily trade policy formulation, regional integration, trade facilitation and trade-related capacity-building at national and regional levels.

Ssemuwemba holds a wealth of experience in designing and implementing trade capacity-building programmes that address the development needs of countries, particularly the LDCs.

She holds a Masters in Business Administration.