KAMPALA — Former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda has been tasked with leading Uganda’s international diplomatic campaign to rally support for Ambassador Olara Otunnu in his bid to become the next United Nations Secretary-General.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni announced Dr Rugunda’s appointment during a meeting with ambassadors representing members of the United Nations Security Council at State House Entebbe on Monday, where Uganda formally presented Otunnu as its candidate for the UN’s top job.
“We are going to send our delegation led by Dr Rugunda to your capitals,” President Museveni told the diplomats as he sought their governments’ backing for Uganda’s candidate.
Dr Rugunda, who currently serves as Special Envoy for Special Duties in the Office of the President, was also part of a government delegation that briefed the media on Tuesday at the Uganda Media Centre, alongside Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Regional Affairs) Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo, Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the UN Adonia Ayebare, and Otunnu himself.
During the briefing, Dr Rugunda reaffirmed the government’s full support for Otunnu, describing him as an accomplished diplomat and statesman with the experience required to lead the United Nations at a critical moment in its history.
On his part, Minister Kasolo said Uganda’s endorsement was based on Otunnu’s distinguished international career, which includes serving as Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, President of the UN Security Council, Chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
“Uganda looks forward to engaging the international community in advancing a candidacy founded on competence, consensus, and service to humanity,” Kasolo said in a statement after the media briefing.
Addressing journalists, Otunnu outlined an ambitious agenda for reforming the United Nations should he be elected to succeed António Guterres, whose second term ends on December 31, 2026.
He called for a comprehensive review of the UN to improve efficiency, strengthen accountability and restore the moral authority of both the Secretary-General and the organisation.
“There are very few people who have had such deep and broad experience of working at and on issues of the United Nations as myself,” Otunnu said.
He identified peace and security, conflict prevention, institutional reform, development financing, climate change and the governance of artificial intelligence as key priorities.
Expressing concern over technological preparedness, Otunnu said: “I’m disappointed that when I move around our schools, universities and communities, our young people are not as engaged with the workings of artificial intelligence as they should be.”
He proposed the establishment of a dedicated UN framework to guide the development, regulation and safe use of artificial intelligence while ensuring it contributes to poverty reduction and digital inclusion.
Otunnu also argued that the United Nations should remain a platform where “major creative ideas, aspirations, standards and values are discussed and developed.”
Uganda officially launched Otunnu’s candidacy on August 3 during President Museveni’s meeting with representatives of Security Council member states, highlighting his diplomatic credentials, multilingual abilities and Uganda’s contribution to regional peace, security and refugee protection.
With Dr Rugunda now leading the diplomatic outreach, Uganda is expected to engage governments in key world capitals as it seeks to build international support ahead of the UN Secretary-General selection process.