Who is Dr. Rukare, the new NCS board chairperson

Dr. Rukare replaces Bosco Onyik

The state minister for Sports Harmson Obua on Friday appointed Uganda Olympic Committee Secretary-General Dr. Donald Rukare as chairman of the board of National Council of Sports replacing Bosco Onyik who served two-terms.

Onyik was appointed in 2016 by the then state minister for sports Charles Bakabulindi.

Obua announced the appointment at Lugogo at a function where he flagged off the National boxing team (the Bombers) to Dakar Senegal for the Olympic qualifiers.

Dr. Rukare who is also the president of the Uganda Swimming Federation brings a lot of management experience to NCS board and is expected to streamline and professionalise the management of NCS in the next two years.

When contacted about his appointment he said, "I' am humbled, I look forward to working with my colleagues to further develop sports in a purposeful participatory manner. Working together with all stakeholders, we can collectively raise sports in the country."

The other notable members on the board include former Uganda Rugby Union chairman Andrew Owinyi who led Uganda to victory in the Confederation of Africa Rugby in 2007 and former Uganda Tourism board CEO Stephen Assimwe.

Other members include; Dr. George Galiwango, Paul Luswata, Mrs. Agatha Namirembe, Zubairi Galiwango, Grace Abalo, and former USPA secretary Mark Ssali. Cecilia Anyakoit and Piloya Evelyn.

 Rukare(L) hands over T-Shirts to Tanzania team captain after the CANA Zone III Masters Swimming Championship

Who is Dr. Rukare

Dr. Rukare is the Secretary-General of the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC), member of the UOC Government Relations Committee, member of the UOC Legal Commission, former chairperson of the Uganda Olympic Merits and Award Commission and former head of the legal commission.

Born on November 4, 1968, at Mulago, Rukare is the President of the Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) and former board chair of Special Olympics Uganda.

He is the vice president African Swimming Federation (CANA), President of CANA Zone III and vice-chair of the Legal Commission of the Association of African National Olympic Committees (ANOCA).

Rukare is also a FINA Bureau member and a member of the FINA Marketing Commission and High Diving Technical Committee and served on the FINA Masters Committee 2013-2014.

He holds an executive master's in international law and is a member of the International Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and a member of the results management panel of the Regional Anti-Doping Agency (RADO). He is a member of the Commonwealth Games Federation Ethics Commission.

 Rukare participating in the breast stroke category during the CANA ZoneIII swimming championship at GEMS Cambridge International School. PHOTOS: Johnson Were

He is an International Olympic Committee (IOC) consultant/advisor that has undertaken assignments for the IOC in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Lesotho.

Dr. Rukare is an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda and a Legal Specialist of International and Human Rights Law with over 27 years' experience in the field of access to justice human rights, good governance and development cooperation.

He is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Governance and Public Policy Research Center. He is the Chief of Party of the USAID Rights and Rule of Law Activity program in Uganda.

He was the Governance and Legal Advisor with the Embassy of Ireland - Uganda and a Senior Legal Officer with the Inspectorate of Government (IG). He teaches international law, human rights at Makerere University, sports law/ and human rights at Uganda Christian University.

A regular guest, faculty at the International Law Institute - Uganda, the Center for human rights at the University of Pretoria- South Africa and the ISDE Law and Business School in Madrid Spain.