The reappointment of Dr Ruhakana Rugunda as Uganda’s Prime Minister has been confirmed by Parliament, Chimp Corps report.
Rugunda, 69, took over from his childhood friend Amama Mbabazi as the country’s highest ranking minister on 18 September 2014.
Mbabazi, who was dropped from the Cabinet, chose to contest for president before losing miserably in the February 18 elections.
During Tuesday’s Parliamentary session 262 MPs voted for his appointment while four abstained. Only three disapproved of the appointment.
A physician by profession, Rugunda has held a long series of Cabinet posts under President Yoweri Museveni beginning in 1986.
Rugunda was Minister of Health from 1986 to 1988, Minister of Works, Transport and Communication from 1988 to 1994, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1996, Minister of Information from 1996 to 1998, Minister at the Presidency from 1998 to 2001, Minister of Water, Lands and Environment from 2001 to 2003,; and Minister of Internal Affairs from 2003 to 2009.
Subsequently he was Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2011 and Minister of Health from 2013 to 2014.
He also served as Chairman of the NRM Electoral Commission, as Member of Parliament for Kabale Municipality, and as President of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
In July 2006, Rugunda led a Ugandan government negotiating team to Juba, Sudan to hold peace talks with the Lord’s Resistance Army.
He is a close ally and confidant of President Museveni.