WASHINGTON – Ms Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of Oxfam International, a British charity, has been shortlisted to take over the vacant top position at UNAIDS.
The UNAIDS job fell vacant after the executive director, Michel Sidibe, left the position in May, having served for 10 years.
Ms Byanyima, who is the wife of opposition lynchpin Kizza Besigye, has been shortlisted along top five others.
The list of names will be sent to the UN Secretary-General who will make the appointment.
If appointed, Ms Byanyima will make a jump from Oxfam International, which has come under global criticism over allegations of sexual abuse of refugees by their aid staff.
If she emerges winner, she will replace Gunilla Carlsson, who was appointed to the position in May, following the resignation of Sidibé. Sidibe is now health minister in Mali.
In the advert for the job, women were encouraged to apply as well as people from geographical diversity. People living with HIV/AIDS and PWDs were also encouraged to apply.
Ms Byanyima was born on January 13, 1959, in Mbarara, western Uganda. She attended Mount Saint Mary’s College Namagunga in Mukono District before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Manchester.
