Nyombi Thembo appointed UCC Executive Director

Former Cabinet Minister and MP Nyombi Thembo has been appointed  the new Executive Director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).

The Minister of Information, Communications Technology and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, announced Thembo’s appointment in a letter to UCC on Thursday.

Dr Baryomunsi said he had appointed Thembo to lead UCC for the next five years.

He replaces Eng Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo who has served in the interim capacity for the last four years since the retirement of Godfrey Mutabazi in 2020.

Eng Kaggwa confirmed the appointment of Thembo in a social media post.

“I wish to update you that Hon. George William Nyombi Thembo has been appointed as the substantive Executive Director of @UCC_Official. Join me in congratulating him on his appointment. On my part it has been an honour to serve UCC, the sector, my country & the global industry,” she said.

Following the advertisement of the ED job, more than 70 people applied for it but four were shortlisted. They were Thembo, Eng Irene Kaggwa, Fred Otunnu, the UCC Corporate Affairs Director; and Julianne Mweheire, the UCC Director of Industrial Affairs and Content Development.

Kikubolane understands that Thembo emerged the best candidate following interviews conducted by the UCC Board.

Thembo is not new at UCC. Since 2017, he has been the director of the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF), a Universal Service Fund (USF) established in 2003 under the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).

Nyombi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Makerere University and a Master of Science in Development Economics from Uganda Martyrs University (UMU). He also holds a diploma in project planning and management (Bradford University, UK) and a post-graduate diploma in financial management (UMU).

Nyombi was born on July 31, 1964 in Kassanda, Singo County, in present-day Mubende District. Married with children, he is a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Among others, Nyombi worked as an analyst, planning officer and senior planning officer for the then Uganda Railways Corporation during the 1990s and as a Project Manager for Transport Rehabilitation Project (Railway Component), at Kampala City Council (1995-2001), when he joined politics.

Nyombi was elected to the Ugandan Parliament in 2001, representing his home constituency of Kassanda County South in Mubende District for over a decade (2001-2015). He has also held a number of posts in the Ugandan Cabinet: State Minister for primary education in the Ministry of Education and Sports (2001-2009), State Minister for Luweero Triangle in the Office of the Prime Minister (2009-2011) and then as State Minister for Information and Communications Technology (2011-15).