Presidential advisor, novelist Mary Karooro Okurut dies

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Senior presidential advisor on public relations and former minister in charge of general duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, as well as former Bushenyi Woman Member of Parliament, Mary Karooro Okurut, passed away on Monday, August 11, 2025.

Her longtime friend and health state minister, Margaret Muhanga, broke the news of her passing on X on Monday evening.

“With so much pain, grief and sorrow, I announce the death of my ‘bosom buddy’ Mary Karooro Okurut. My literature teacher, my mentor, my very close buddy, my world, my all. So painful to imagine. This is a sting I’ll never forget.”

Muhanga did not reveal the cause of her death.

Born on December 8, 1954, in Bushenyi District, the late Karooro was married to Stanislaus Okurut, who passed away on April 5, 2014.

She attended Bweranyangi Primary School for her primary education and completed her O-level studies at Bweranyangi Girls’ Senior Secondary School.

She then pursued A-level studies at Trinity College Nabbingo in 1972 and later enrolled at Makerere University in 1974, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature in 1977. She went on to receive a Master of Arts in Literature (MA.Lit) degree from Makerere University in 1981.

Karooro began teaching in the Department of Literature at Makerere University in 1981. She later obtained a Diploma in Education (Dip. Ed) from the same institution in 1982 and continued as a lecturer until 1993.

From 1994 to 1996, she served as press secretary to the Vice President of Uganda. She worked in the Ministry of Education from 1996 to 1999 as Commissioner at the Education Service Commission.

In 1999, she was appointed press secretary in the Office of the President, a position she held until 2004 when she resigned to contest the position of Woman Member of Parliament for Bushenyi district under the National Resistance Movement (NRM).