By Ben Ssebuguzi

Kampala: When PS Pius Bigirimana become an object of critism for offering to help in the investigation of corruption in the Prime ministers office in 2012, where afterwards, the culprits are still serving their sentence, the onus become ripe for me to look for him and learn where he gets that braveness.

Fast forward in 2017, I was happy and amazed by the attention Mr. Bigirimana would nostalgically explain to me the work plan and progress of Youth Livelihood Program and he used to do the same to every youth who visited him in his office in the Gender Ministry as a Permanent Secretary.

They are few public servants who value citizens (Wanaich) like Bigirimana up to date. Every Tom and Dick can easily secure an appointment to see Bigirimana for as long as you have a genuine reason. Probably it is the reason why President Yoweri Museven still trusts him to serve in different ministries because he is selfless and dedicated and corrupt free.

On corruption, Bigirimana who is always working with vigour and energy from receiving calls to another desk to type like a youth of mid 40s, doesn’t mince words on not abating corruption. Probably that explains why he is very mean with money compared to other public servants, and it is very hard to trace him on the corruption scene because he uses protocol.

When I visited him to give him a good performance certificate as token of appreciation for his outstanding performance, he referred me to the Registrar of courts when I wanted business to market the Judiciary achievements on social media. That is how it is hard to link him in any conspiracy of corruption.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://thestandard.co.ug/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/VICTORIA-CERT-final.pdf” title=”VICTORIA CERT final”]

In the same vein, I believe he is the best public servant who has authored various books to teach against corruption among others like A tale of wolves in a sheep’s skin, Abundance Mentality, From tears to Cheers and unchained and Public servant with Private sector mindset. All these contribute to the economic and social progress of our Nation.

Further more, he is very intelligent because I didn’t want to miss his important appointment. I decided to come with some mild cold (flue), he detected me even when I was giving him social distance and wearing a mask. I sanitized many times to make sure that I don’t expose the man who runs many important businesses for our country.

For starters, Mr.Bigirimana is a man I know that whenever he is deployed in any ministry, he starts to reinvigorate employees to perform by instituting reforms at work place and I know the lazy ones, can easily fall out. For example, he started physical exercise which he went with at the Judiciary. This management tool keeps his staff healthy and productive.

In summary, he is a perfectionist when there is a mistake in a document. He will send you back countless times to rectify that mistake. His trail blazer achievements like the construction of the Twin towers of the Supreme court and court of Appeal has really changed the skyline of Kampala. This has developed and transformed the Judiciary sector.

Actually he also taught me about the independence of the Judiciary and Ministry of Justice which is part of the Executive arm of government something i was too novice!! He is also proud to have started the Women Entrepreneurship Program which has touched many women in Uganda.

To cut the story short, Mr.Bigirimana achievements are immeasurable in the Judiciary because besides procuring the Electronic Court Case Management System for filing cases which will minimise corruption, he also helped in assenting to the Administration of Judicial Act by H.E the President.

In short, we thank President Museven for having the art of identifying cadres who are transformative. 20 Bigirimanas in government can make Uganda become like Dubai in a short span of time.

Ben Ssebuguzi is the SG of Uganda Poor Youth Movement and Public awareness and Information dissemination fellow with Public Opinion.