The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) recently said bye bye to their former top boss Ernest Rubondo after working tooth & nail for the oil & gas industry in this country, Uganda.
Several high profiled guests attended Rubondo’s send off party at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel including Total Energies general manager Phillip Groueix, and his deputy Mariam Nampeera, the chief executive of the Uganda National Oil Company Proscovia Nabbanja, the managing director of EACOP Ltd, Guillaume Dulout, the PAU board chair, Lynda Biribonwa, and her predecessor Jane Mulemwa,the former energy permanent secretary Kabagambe Kaliisa and three former energy ministers including Irene Muloni, Richard Kaijuka and Peter Lokeris.
Rubondo, one of the first petro-scientists to be trained by the Ugandan government to build the sector, stepped down on the of 31st August 2026, after serving for two terms, the maximum allowed under the law establishing the authority.
A month later, the oil industry executives and Ugandan officials led by the energy minister, Monica Musenero, minister Phiona Nyamutooro, the permanent secretary, Irene Batebe & others have finally said bye bye to the man who built Uganda’s oil regulator from scratch.
The regulator was set up under a 2013 petroleum law to oversee Uganda’s oil sector, from exploration to the pump.
Several speakers & media have paid tribute to Mr Rubondo, who joined the ministry’s petroleum unit, under the Department of Geological Survey and Mines, as a geological assistant in 1984.
Mr Rubondo temporary handed over his former office seat to Mr Otonga-Ochan, the director of finance and corporate services .
Ali Ssekatawa, the director of legal and corporate services had expected Mr Rubondo’s backing as his successor but instead,the board zero-ed on Mr Fred Kabanda ,who is expected to take over office on the 1st December 2026.
Mr Ssekatawa and Mr Kabanda both reached the final round of board interviews, and their names where forwarded to the president.
The board, led by Ms Biribonwa, appointed Mr Otonga-Ochan to the acting role while it concluded talks with Mr Kabanda, whom Ms Musenero said had the president’s backing for the post, following advice from the authority’s petro-scientists.
The board announced Mr Kabanda’s appointment on the 9th September 2026, after press reports & he has worked as manager of the extractives division at the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Meanwhile Mr Rubondo was appointed PAU’s executive director in August 2016 & worked tooth & nail to date#
