President Yoweri Museveni has appointed former National Social Security Fund Managing Director Richard Patrick Byarugaba as Senior Presidential Advisor on Exports and Industrial Development, returning the veteran banker and corporate executive to a senior role in government.
The appointment also includes Moses Sabiti to the same advisory position and is intended to strengthen the exports and industrial development function within the President’s Office.
When contacted by Eagle Online on Thursday, Byarugaba confirmed the appointment while speaking on the phone from Nairobi.
“It is true, H.E. the President has appointed me his Senior Advisor. I am grateful to him,” Byarugaba said.
Byarugaba’s appointment comes years after a turbulent and highly scrutinised exit from NSSF, where he served as managing director from November 2017 to November 2022.
His final years at the helm were dominated by open confrontation with the then Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, under whose ministry the Fund falls.
The standoff culminated in multiple investigations and appearances before parliamentary committees, including the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises, following accusations raised by the minister against the former NSSF boss.
Byarugaba consistently denied wrongdoing and defended his record before the committees.
A key point of contention was Byarugaba’s refusal to advance Shs6 billion from NSSF funds that the minister had reportedly demanded to facilitate supervision of NSSF activities.
Byarugaba maintained that the money had not been budgeted for and that releasing it would contravene established procedures governing the Fund.
The disagreement escalated into a prolonged institutional crisis, with Amongi accusing Byarugaba of misconduct and poor governance, allegations he dismissed as false and politically driven. The confrontation effectively split the Fund’s leadership and disrupted normal operations.
Despite the controversy, President Museveni extended Byarugaba’s contract at the expiry of his first term, a move that deepened the rift between NSSF management and the supervising ministry.
The extension was followed by continued friction, which critics say affected the stability and functionality of the Fund during that period.
Byarugaba left NSSF in 2022 after the end of his extended tenure, closing one of the most contentious chapters in the Fund’s history.
Born in 1961 in Mbarara, Byarugaba studied statistics and economics at Makerere University before qualifying as an accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom. He also holds a management diploma from Henley Management College.
He began his career at Standard Chartered Bank Uganda in 1983, rising to executive director for finance by 1992, before moving to the bank’s London headquarters as regional finance manager for Africa. He later returned to Uganda and joined Nile Bank Limited, becoming its managing director in 2003. Following the bank’s acquisition, he served as chief operating officer at Barclays Bank Uganda.
In 2008, he was appointed managing director of Global Trust Bank Uganda, a position he held until 2010 before taking over leadership at NSSF.
Since leaving the pension fund, Byarugaba has remained active in corporate leadership. He has served as chairman of Old Mutual Investment Group Uganda since August 2025 and is involved in several professional and health institutions, including Hospice Africa, the Palliative Care Association of Uganda and the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services.
His appointment as Senior Presidential Advisor is apolitical rehabilitation and renewed confidence by the President in a technocrat whose tenure at NSSF divided opinion but reshaped debate around governance and political interference in public institutions.
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