Ernest Rubondo Leaves a Mixed Legacy at Uganda’s Petroleum Authority

Ernest Rubondo leaves the Petroleum Authority of Uganda after nearly 20 years of helping steer the country from oil discovery toward commercial development. He also leaves behind a more disputed question: whether the institution he led built enough depth to operate without him.

The transition is formally under way. PAU’s board says Energy and Mineral Development Minister has appointed Michael Ochan Otonga, the authority’s director of finance and corporate services, as acting executive director from Sept. 1, 2026. He will serve until the government announces a permanent executive director.

Rubondo became the public face of Uganda’s petroleum sector. That visibility, the article notes, sometimes overshadowed other technocrats who helped build it, including Henry Malinga, Frank Mugisha, Engineer Basiima, Reuben Kashambuzi and Robert Kasande. Rubondo is widely credited as one of the pioneering scientists who helped establish the sector, but commercial production still has no definitive first-oil date.

Current and former sector players describe Rubondo as technically strong and deeply involved. Critics, however, say he kept a tight grip on decisions and left senior managers with limited room to operate independently. PAU expanded from a small leadership team into a regulator employing hundreds of professionals, yet decision-making remained heavily concentrated around the executive director.

That approach brought control but complicated succession, critics say. They also argue that concentration contributed to indecision and slowed strategic approvals, making it harder for the government and investors to secure a credible first-oil date. The tension was visible on Sept. 2, 2026, when President Museveni unveiled “Pearl Sweet” as the name of Uganda’s crude. The event marked another symbolic milestone, but no first-oil date was announced. Supporters saw a sector that had travelled far under a pioneer. Critics saw institutions and announcements advancing while the defining commercial milestone remained out of reach.

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Pearl Sweet