OBITUARY: Keith Muhakanizi, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, dies

He has been praised as a brilliant economist and a hands on bureaucrat

Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | Former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST), Keith Muhakanizi died on April 13 in a hospital in Milan, Italy after a long illness. Muhakanizi has been praised as one of the architects of Uganda’s post 1986 economy that put a premium on deregulation and privatisation as a way of resuscitating the economy after years of political and economic turmoil.

In the last two years, Muhakanizi served as Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) where he was often on medical leave until he passed on.

Muhakanizi’s role as PSST from 2013 to 2021, and also as deputy in previous years brought him into focus as the kingpin of Uganda’s fiscal policy; managing the Treasury at a time when Uganda’s budget was growing year on year. As deputy to Chris Kasami at Finance and working closely with former Bank of Uganda Governor, Tumusiime Mutebile who died in 2022, the troika became the face of Uganda’s neo liberal economic reforms as demanded by the IMF and World Bank.

According to Andrew Mwenda, a close associate and friend, Muhakanizi was “a technocrat of incredible political skill, and a vigorous intellectual.”

Mwenda said Muhakanizi was the brains behind the Integrated Financial Management System, a system that created a single Treasury account for all government payments that and aimed at combating fraud.

Government Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said that Muhakanizi and Mutebile were the two civil servants who would hold their ground in front of President Yoweri Museveni.

An employee at Ministry of Finance said Muhakanizi was a master at the art of delegation. “He once famously told a parliamentary committee or the press that he was in fact idle and needed something to do,” the employee said. “But in office, he had no trouble walking to the desk of a junior officer on another floor to see for himself how far the latter had gone with a previously assigned task.”

Often appearing before parliament to answer queries on government spending, Muhakanizi spoke with a stammer but with confidence and a wry smile as he explained decisions he made as one of the country’s top officials. He was also not wary of chiding his subordinates with whom he often appeared at parliament hearings.

Muhakanizi came under intense pressure for the scandals involving Ministry of Finance and procurement in government but managed to stay above the fray over the years as senior government officials were investigated and dismissed over misappropriation of funds.

President Museveni once tightened the screws on Muhakanizi saying the Ministry of Finance is “full of thieves” but the latter kept his job until the new presidential term of office in 2021 when he was assigned to OPM.

The former Secretary to the Treasury was also at pains to defend some positions taken by the government such as the creation of more districts and government agencies that bloated the payroll and pushed up the cost of public administration.

Muhakanizi was essentially at the heart of the government’s economic policy. He was instrumental in the 2016 decision by the government to bail out distressed companies, many of which had ties to government officials. He also backed the infamous “handshake”; a financial reward for government employees following a court victory against foreign oil exploration companies.

At the finance ministry, Muhakanizi was known for his strict bureaucratic management where he kept a tight leash on employees.

He joined the Ministry of Finance in 1982 straight from Makerere University as a young economist. This was at a time of political upheaval in the second Milton Obote government. He bid his time and kept his job. It was under President Museveni’s long running administration that the lean and bespectacled economist made a mark.

Muhakanizi rose from the ranks as Advisor to the then Minister of Finance Mayanja Nkangi in the mid-1990s, and then Director of Economic Policy, to Deputy PS and finally the top job at the Treasury.

Muhakanizi was born in Rukungiri District to the late Rev. Kosia Kajwengye and the late Zeridah Kajwengye although he later settled in Lyantonde. Muhakanizi went to Ntare School for six years before joining Makerere University for his Bachelor’s degree in Economics.