Oil sector pays tribute to Ernest Rubondo after four decades of service

What the report says

The oil and gas industry in Uganda has honoured Ernest Rubondo, the pioneer executive director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), as he steps down after more than four decades in the country’s petroleum sector. According to The Independent Uganda, the farewell event in Kampala brought together former and current energy ministers, government officials, industry executives, development partners and colleagues to recognize his long public-service career.

Speakers praised Rubondo for helping guide Uganda’s petroleum sector from its early stages toward commercial oil production. They credited him with building regulatory oversight, encouraging local participation, attracting investment and helping develop a professional workforce. Proscovia Nabbanja of the Uganda National Oil Company and other speakers described him as a mentor and a steady leader, while international partners from Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States also sent tribute messages.

Rubondo said his career began in 1984 in the then Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and later took him from technical roles to leading the PAU. He thanked President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for support to the sector and to his own work. The current minister, Monica Musenero Masanza, urged the next generation to preserve the systems and values built under his leadership. The tribute comes as Uganda continues preparing for first oil and broader petroleum-sector development.