Tom Okurut

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Tom Okurut
Born6 January 1960
Died14 April 2024
Citizenship Uganda
Alma materMakerere University
University of Ibadan
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
Years active1989-2024
SuccessorAkankwasah Barirega

Tom Okia Okurut (6 January 1960 – 14 April 2024) was a Ugandan climate change activist, conservationist, environmentalist, author, and policy maker. [1] [2] He was the former executive director National Environment Management Authority for 10 years since 2011 to 2021, [3] [4] [5] [6] and former executive director Climate Change Action East Africa. [7] [1] [2]

Contents

Background and Education

Okurut attended Akadot Primary School from 1967 to 1973, Gulu High School between 1974 to 1977, Teso College Aloet from 1978 up to 1979. [1] Okurut joined Makerere University in 1980 and graduated with a bachelor's degree of Science majoring in Chemistry in 1983. [1] [2] He obtained a post graduate diploma in renewable engineering from Eni-Sogesta Institute Urbino in Italy. [1] Between 1987 up to 1988, he pursued his Master of Science at University of Ibadan in Nigeria, [1] and he also attended IHE Delft Institute for Water Education in Netherlands where he did his PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from 1995 to 2000. [1] [2] [4] [5]

Okurut died on 14 April 2024 at Platinum Hospital in Nakasero, Kampala due to head clot that had reached his brain which prompted a head surgery. [4] [5] [6] [8] He died in the Intensive Care Unit due to alleged lack of oxygen circulation in the brain after the head surgery. [9] He was buried on 20 April 2024 in Akadot village, Mukongoro subcounty in Kumi district. [1] [2] [6]

Personal life

Okurut was married to Ademun Anna Rose Okurut who serves as the Commissioner of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. They had 3 children. [1] [7]

Career

Okurut started his career as an assistant lecturer in the chemistry department at Makerere University from 1989 to 1994 after his first degree. [1] He joined National Water and Sewage Corporation in 2000 as a Water quality officer up to 2001 in the quality, training, research and development department [1] [5] and he was the executive secretary for the lake Victoria Basin Commission in Kisumu, Kenya from 2006 to 2011 and he was promoted to program officer at the Lake Victoria development program, East African Community secretariat which is based in Arusha, Tanzania. [1] [4]

Okurut was appointed the executive director of NEMA [10] in 2011 up to 1 September 2021 when he was succeeded by Akankwasah Barirega after serving two regimes. [1] [3] [4] [8] While at NEMA, it is alleged that he contributed to the entity success story where the entity managed to earn 500% budget increment and 100% in 5-years, lowered the pollution rate to 50% as a result of engineering innovative compliance assistant strategy, he called for the development of national guidelines and standards for workplace air quality and drafted the financial law for single plastic usage. [5]

Okurut was the executive director of Climate Change Action for East Africa from 2021 till his death on 14 April 2024. [1]

Okurut served as the chairperson on the Appointment Board and Council member of Makerere University Business School. [5]

Honor

In honor of Okurut's work, Anita Among requested the member of parliament to plant a minimum of five trees. [6]

Awards

Okurut was the receiver of the UNESCO - IHE Alumni award 2014 which is given to alumni of IHE Delft who have contributed exceptionally to the water management and his service as a role model to fellow water professionals. [11]

Related Research Articles

James Clement Dooge was an Irish Fine Gael politician, engineer, climatologist, hydrologist and academic who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 1982 to 1987 and Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1973 to 1977. He served as a Senator from 1961 to 1977 and 1981 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makerere University</span> Public university in Kampala, Uganda

Makerere University is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of nine colleges and one school, offering programmes for about 36,000 undergraduates and 4,000 postgraduates. These colleges include College of Natural Sciences (CONAS), College of Health Sciences (CHS), College of Engineering Art & Design (CEDAT), College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies (CAES), College Of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS), College of Humanities & Social Sciences (CHUSS), College of Computing and Information Sciences (COCIS), College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources & Bio-security (COVAB), College of Education and External Studies (CEES) and Makerere University Business School (MUBS). In addition, Makerere has onother campus in Eastern Uganda Jinja City.

Louis A. Kasekende is a Ugandan economist, who serves as the executive director of the Macroeconomics and Financial Management, Institute of Eastern & Southern Africa (MEFMI), based in Harare, Zimbabwe, since 1 April 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Karooro Okurut</span> Ugandan politician

Mary Busingye Karoro Okurut, more commonly known as Mary Karoro Okurut, is a Ugandan educator, author and politician. She is the former Cabinet Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister, in the Ugandan Cabinet. She was appointed to that position on 6 June 2016. Prior to that, from 1 March 2015 until 6 June 2016, she served as Cabinet Minister for National Security. She was appointed to that position on 1 March 2015, replacing Wilson Muruli Mukasa, who was appointed Minister of Gender and Social Issues. Between 2012 and 2015, she served as the Minister of Gender and Social Issues in the Cabinet of Uganda. She was appointed to that position in 2012. She replaced Syda Bumba, who resigned from Cabinet. Mary Karoro Okurut also serves as the elected Member of Parliament for Bushenyi District Women's Constituency. In the 2020 National resistance movement NRM party flag bearer elections, Karooro lost to Annet Katusiime Mugisha who was elected Bushenyi district woman member of parliament in the 2021 Uganda presidential and parliamentary elections.

Professor Charles Mark Lwanga Olweny, MBChB, MMed, MD, FRACP, is a Ugandan physician, oncologist, academic and medical researcher. Currently he is a professor of medicine and Immediate past vice-chancellor at Uganda Martyrs University, based at Nkozi, Mpigi District, in Central Uganda.

Stanislaus Okurut was a Ugandan politician. He served as the Minister of Sports from 1986 to 1986, as well as separate tenures as the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Transport.

Martin Jerome Okec Aliker was a Ugandan dental surgeon, businessman, and community leader. He was a senior adviser to the President of Uganda and sat on the board of directors of nearly forty Ugandan companies. He was the chancellor of Victoria University Uganda, a private institution. From 2004 until 2014, he served as the founding chancellor of Gulu University, a public university.

John Odiri Ogund Omagino, MBChB, MMed, FCOSECSA, is a thoracic and cardiac surgeon in Uganda. He is the executive director of the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI). He is also a member of the board of directors of UHI.

Professor Reuben James Olembo (1937–2005) was a prominent Kenyan academic, scientist and environmentalist. He was a deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which he played a pivotal role in helping found, and United Nations Assistant Secretary General from 1994 to 1998. He became the Acting Secretary General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), after his retirement from UNEP.

Melesse Temesgen is an Ethiopian agricultural engineer, hydrologist and businessman. He was born on 7 July 1964 in Gojjam, Ethiopia. He is the CEO of Aybar Engineering PLC.

Charles Kabugo is a senior consultant internal medicine physician in the Uganda Ministry of Health. He is the executive director of Kiruddu General Hospital, in Makindye Division, in the south of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. He was appointed to that position on 9 August 2018.

Robert Ssentongo, is a consultant plastic surgeon in the Uganda Ministry of Health, who serves as the deputy executive director of Kiruddu General Hospital, in Makindye Division, in southern Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. He was appointed to that position on 9 August 2018.

Nehemiah Katusiime is an Ugandan consultant obstetrician and gynecologist in the Uganda Ministry of Health. He was the executive director of Kawempe General Hospital, in Kawempe Division, in northern Kampala, the capital and largest of Uganda. He was appointed to that position on 9 August 2018 and was succeeded by Dr. Byaruhanga Emmanuel Kayogoza also a senior consultant Gynaecology and Obstetrics as the new Executive Director since his appointment in June 2022.

Richard Iwa Idro is a Ugandan pediatric neurologist, researcher and academic, who serves as an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

The National Planning Authority of Uganda, commonly referred to as the National Planning Authority (NPA), is a semi-autonomous national development planning organisation in Uganda and is owned by the government of Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentine Uwamariya</span> Minister in Rwanda

Valentine Uwamariya is a Rwandan politician who served as minister of education from 2020 to 2023 when she was redeployed to the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion in a cabinet reshuffle by President Paul Kagame and in current mandate of 2024-2029 she serving as Minister of environment in Rwanda.

Silver Mugisha, is a Ugandan civil engineer and corporate executive, who serves as the managing director and chief executive officer of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), since August 2013. Before that, he served as the chief manager responsible for "Institutional Development and External Services" at the NWSC.

Dr. Sheikh Anas Kaliisa was a Ugandan Islamic scholar, academician, and a senior political analyst. He was a personal tutor to president Idi Amin's children. He served as a lecturer and Vice Rector at the Islamic University in Uganda.

Gideon Nathan Badagawa was a Ugandan corporate executive, policy analyst, statistician. He was a former executive director of Private Sector Foundation of Uganda and former executive director Uganda Manufacturers' Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Byanyima</span> Ugandan physician

Rosemary Kusaba Byanyima is a Ugandan radiologist, physician, academic, researcher and administrator who is the Executive Director at Mulago National Referral Hospital since April 20th 2024.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Agriculture ministry, NEMA mourn climate change icon". New Vision. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Experts urge farmers to embrace one-acre model farming". 93.3 KFM. 2023-10-22. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
  3. 1 2 "Former NEMA boss, Dr Tom Okurut dies after brain surgery". Monitor. 2024-04-14. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Former NEMA boss Dr Okurut dead". New Vision. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ex NEMA Boss Dr Tom Okurut Succumbs to Brain Clot". ChimpReports. 2024-04-15. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  6. 1 2 3 4 apofeed (2024-04-18). "Uganda: Plant trees in memory of fallen Ex - National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Boss, Among urges public". African Business. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  7. 1 2 "IHE Delft alumnus Tom Okurut Okia passes away". www.un-ihe.org. 18 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
  8. 1 2 Enuru, Eddy (2024-04-15). "Former NEMA Executive Director Dr. Tom Okurut, dies". Nilepost News. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
  9. ↑ Gapany, M. (January 2007). "Is Lack of Placement of Drains After Thyroidectomy With Central Neck Dissection Safe? A Prospective, Randomized Study". Yearbook of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. 2007: 227–228. doi:10.1016/s1041-892x(07)70194-4. ISSN   1041-892X.
  10. ↑ "One year later, Kilembe mines is yet to reopen". Monitor. 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
  11. ↑ MAGAZINE UNESCO‑IHE INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION - 2014
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.