Collin Babirukamu will in January assume the office of the director of eGovernment services at the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), officials confirmed to this website.
The position was announced vacant in September after Peter Kahiigi, who had been occupying it, left the Authority to join the Global Centre for Cyber Security at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
Babirukamu, who holds a bachelor of computer science from Mbarara University of Science and Technology and a Master's in leadership development (ICT) from the University of Mauritius, will be leaving American tech giant Oracle, where he was a territory manager for the East African region.
There, he helped Oracle penetrate government institutions as they transition to digital platforms.
Before Oracle, Collin Babirukamu had worked at National Social Security Fund as head of information technology, at the ministry of finance as an IT consultant, among other institutions.
His predecessor, Peter Kahiigi, who had occupied the office since 2015, saw the portfolio of ICT systems grow from 47 to 340 government systems, with an e-citizens portal established to offer 101 services.
Essentially, Babirukamu's office is charged with overseeing the transformation of public service delivery.
President Yoweri Museveni in November commissioned phase four of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and eGovernment Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) in Moroto district.
The NBI is an internet carrying optical fiber cable that now runs across all the regions of the country. Phase four project was launched on May 11, 2019.
The project was successfully completed in March of this year and connected the districts of Moroto, Napak, Katakwi, Moyo, Yumbe, Adjumani, Koboko, Maracha, Arua, Nebbi and Packwach onto the National Backbone.
Additionally, regional connectivity was achieved with the Democratic Republic of Congo with connections at Goli, Vurra and Mpondwe while with South Sudan, Oraba was added to the existing connection at Elegu.
With this, Uganda is now a fully-fledged communications hub with the seven of its major border posts with neighboring countries all connected to the NBI further strengthening regional ties.
Phase 4 of the NBI/EGI Project, implemented under the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program under the World Bank, has built onto the earlier implemented phases of the project to deliver a high-capacity data network across the country specifically to the West Nile and Karamoja regions.
Key milestones achieved in the Project include the building of the Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Link from Kasese to Mpondwe, Karuma to Arua and Soroti to Moroto.
Additionally, over 100 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were added to the National Backbone Infrastructure bring the current total of co to 603 MDAs. NITA–U is currently implementing the Last Mile Project to extend connectivity to 700 MDAs across the country.
