KAMPALA – Former Higher Education minister Dr. Abel Rwendeire is dead.
Dr. Rwendeire who has been the deputy chairperson of the National Planning Authority succumbed to a heart attack in the wee hours of Thursday morning, family sources confirmed.
PML Daily will report more details about the unfortunate demise of Dr Rwendeire and funeral arrangement details later.
According to the his profile posted on the NPA website, Dr. Rwendeire holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry obtained in 1985 from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
He joined NPA in July 2008 following his four year tenure as a Managing Director ( 2002- 2006) at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO), in Vienna, Austria.
At UNIDO, he was responsible for the formulation, implementation and evaluation of innovative programmatic initiatives in Industrial Promotion and Technology; Agro-Industries; Small and Medium Enterprises; Energy and Cleaner Production as well as providing strategic advice to the Director General of UNIDO on all aspects of technical cooperation services in Industrial, Technological and Economic issues for sustainable industrial development.
Prior to joining UNIDO, Dr Rwendeire was a MP representing the people of Rubanda County East constituency in Kabale District from 1996 to 2002. During this time Dr Rwendeire served as a Minister of State (1996-1998 and 2000-2001) for Tourism, Trade and Industry; Minister of State (1998-2000) for Higher Education in the Ministry of Education and Sports, laying the foundation, inter alia, for the establishment of Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework with a view to integrating the informal sector into the main stream formal educational processes.
Before joining Politics, Dr Rwendeire had contributed significantly to the development and management of technical and vocational education when he was the Principal of Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (1992-1996) in the Ministry of Education and Sports. He forged mutually supportive partnerships with private sector players by promoting linkages between industry and the Polytechnic. He was the Chairman of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) that was responsible for the national admissions to all the tertiary institutions.
