Matthew Bukenya, who served as secretary of the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) for nearly 20 years and remade its image, is dead.
UNEB, in a statement said Bukenya died on Sunday night. It did not reveal the cause of his death. Bukenya was believed to be in his late 80s or early 90s.
A stickler to rules and a disciplinarian, Bukenya was called out of retirement in 1997 to lead the organisation, after the sacking of David Livingstone Ongom. Ongom’s tenure was tainted by incidences of widespread examination malpractices.
Bukenya came in and steadied the ship.
He introduced measures such as concealing the identities of examiners and dismissing those who revealed their identities.
In 2001, Bukenya said he has been threatened with death for having blocked presidential aspirant Ntege Sebaggala’s new academic qualification papers.
“Many people referring to themselves as Sebaggala’s men have called, threatening me. Some have said I am traitor, and that Museveni has given a bribe of many billions of money to block Sebaggala’s new documents that certifies his qualification,” Bukenya said.
“I have even feared to go back to the UNEB office. I fear for my life because some others have said they have planted a bomb at the offices. They say that I am a Muganda traitor and I am not worth being in the public with them.”
In 2015 when a dispute arose over the expiration of his contract, Bukenya said he was not dying to cling to the job.
“If Bukenya is not there, Uneb will still run. It’s the President to say we are behind schedule. I can assure you, they are working and they will identify somebody who will be executive secretary,” he said.
