Former Makerere University Business School (MUBS) Principal Prof. Waswa Balunywa has reportedly been appointed to the National Resistance Movement’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), according to a report shared online on Friday night by journalist Dickens Okello Honeystraw.
The report states that the appointment was made under powers held by the NRM Chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, to bring in CEC members outside the elective process. As of publication, the appointment had not yet been confirmed through an official NRM statement or picked up by mainstream Ugandan outlets, and CampusBee will update this story as more details emerge.
If confirmed, the appointment would mark a significant turn for Balunywa, whose 26-year run as MUBS Principal ended in 2023. He has more recently been in the news for a different reason entirely: he is currently facing corruption and abuse-of-office charges before the Anti-Corruption Court, accused of irregularly recruiting staff at MUBS between 2020 and 2023 without clearance from the university’s Appointments Committee. He has pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.
Balunywa is widely credited as the architect of Uganda’s private students’ scheme, a funding model that transformed access to higher education and has since been replicated by universities across the region. He also founded MUBS in 1997 and served as its first Director and later Principal, and previously sat on the Bank of Uganda board.
