President Yoweri Museveni’s daughter Natasha Karugire has endorsed her longtime friend Marcella Karekye to take over Government Citizens Interaction Center (GCIC), a unit under the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance headed by Minister Judith Nabakooba.
The unit has previously been headed by Awel Uwihanganye whose tour of duty comes to an end this February after two and half years of service.
The unit was formed by Minister Frank Tumwebaze at a time he was the Minister of ICT to enhance the monitoring of service delivery and provide a channel for feedback and suggestions from citizens.
GCIC’s strategic mission is to provide timely, cost effective, and data driven communication between Government and its citizens through mainstream media and online communication channels.
However, since Tumwebaze’s departure to Ministry of Gender, the unit suffered a setback with government questioning its formation and roles, which authorities say impacted on the unit’s mandate to defend government during a critical period of elections.
“The unit failed to neutralize opposition members on Social Media who have created a lot of damage by pushing an account that Uganda is at war,” said a source in the ministry of ICT.
After his contract ended, the top leadership at the ICT Ministry said GCIC head Awel was at liberty to leave.
“Friends and colleagues in the government, this is to let you know that after two and half years of service, my tour of duty at Ministry of ICT as HEAD at GCIC Uganda comes to an end at the end of February,” Awel tweeted on February 11.
Marcella Karekye
Ms Karekye, a very close friend of the First Daughter will be succeeding Mr Awel, TrumpetNews has reliably learnt.
Karekye, an editor at Fountain Publishers has closely worked with Natasha Karugire on many projects including releasing a book “Reflections of the daughter of Savannah” and a shooting a movie- 27 Guns which carries tales of the NRA bush war led by her father President Yoweri Museveni.
Sources say, Karekye has clandestinely been involved in a couple of mobilization activities in the just ended Presidential election which Museveni won by 58%.
Natasha, a wife to city lawyer Edwin Karugire and an attorney of the First Family spent the better part of the Presidential campaign with her father on trail helping to woo the youth on social media as she released a couple of pictures and video on internet.
TrumpetNews further understands that Natasha feels GCIC has not done enough to defend the image of government during and after elections and that explains why she intends to take over the unit by fronting her friend Karekye.
Don Wanyama, the Presidential press secretary said he was unaware of this development when contacted.
Minister Judith Nabakooba couldn’t be reached for a comment.
