Museveni mourns Prof Anthony Mbonye

President Museveni has mourned the passing on of Prof. Anthony Mbonye, the former Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health.

“I want to express condolences to our incoming Head of Civil Service, Lucy Nakyobe on account of the death of her husband, Dr Mbonye. His untimely death is a big disappointment for the country and all who know his work in the medical service. He still had a lot to contribute,” Museveni said on Sunday afternoon.

Mbonye was the husband to outgoing State House comptroller, Lucy Nakyobe  who is also one of  the president’s most trusted employees for a number of years.

“I salute Lucy Nakyobe because she did everything possible to support him during all the time of his sickness. She was always briefing me. May his soul rest in external peace,” Museveni said.

Prof. Mbonye

By the time of his death, Mbonye was a professor at the School of Public Health, College of Health Science  at Makerere University and the  Uganda Christian Unity in Mukono.

Having served as the Director General for Health Services, Prof.Mbonye was in charge of  supervising all community and clinical programs in the Ministry of Health.

He is therefore credited for having provided technical leadership and conducted several strategic interventions to improve health service delivery in the country.

Prof.Mbonye was also a member of the Country Coordination Mechanism (CCM) in which he provided oversight for the implementation of Global Fund Grants to control of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB in Uganda among other roles he played in the country’s health system.

In 2017, he was removed from the position of Director General for Health Services after the IGG challenged his appointment citing conflict of interest.

Mbonye  ran to High Court which later cleared him but the court ruling came two days after he had decided to resign from the position.

“I no longer had confidence in their capacity to lead; and felt that I could no longer work alongside officers who leveraged the power of their undeserved positions and conducted themselves in such an unprofessional way,” he wrote in his book titled; Uganda’s Health Sector – Through Turbulent Politics (1958-2018).

The book has since rattled many at the Ministry of Health as he exposed what he termed as rot and power struggles at the ministry.

In 2019, the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine sued Prof.Mbonye for allegedly defaming her in his new book.

Through her lawyers of K&K Advocates, Dr Atwine sought an apology from Prof Mbonye, general damages, exemplary damages, a permanent injunction, interest and costs of the suit.

 

 

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