John Musinguzi Rujoki is a Ugandan mathematician and corporate executive who serves as the Commissioner-General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), effective 2 April 2020.
Musinguzi was born in Rubirizi, Uganda circa 1973. After attending local primary school, he was admitted to Ntare School, a prestigious all-boys boarding high school in Mbarara city, for both his O and A levels.
He was admitted to Makerere University, Uganda’s oldest and largest public university, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics. He went on to study at the University of Greenwich, in the United Kingdom, where he graduated with a Master of Science degree in Computing and Information Systems.
In 2000, Rujoki served as the head of the finance and audit department of the Special Revenue Protection Services (SRPS), a military unit attached to the Uganda Revenue Authority. The SRPS is credited with wiping out smuggling at Ugandan borders and especially on Lake Nalubaale.
In April, 2020, he was appointed to lead at URA, as the new Commissioner General, replacing Doris Akol, who had served one year and five months of her second consecutive four-year contract. Within 60 days of his appointment four senior managers at URA resigned and the URA board “accepted” their resignations.
In addition to his other assignments, Rujoki serves as the Chairman of board of National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U), since October 2019. He is also a senior advisor on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to the President of Uganda, since 2015.
In his capacity as Commissioner General, he sits on the seven-person board of directors of the Uganda Revenue Authority, as his predecessors did.
Musinguzi has a vast experience in ICT policy and investment from both the private and public sector. He is also the former intelligence operative, and was also part of the team that investigated the money scandal at Makerere University about the cost of education in 2007.
In 2006, Musinguzi testified against four time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye in the trumped case of rape.
In a message posted on his social media pages, shortly after Mr Musinguzi’s appointment, Besigye said he was surprised that the former was not rewarded earlier basing on his service to the current regime.
“Mr Musinguzi played a key role in the patently trumped-up rape case. At the time, he worked as the Head of Audit & Finance in the Revenue Protection Services (RPS), then headed by Gen Kale Kayihura. Apparently, during the trial, he’d stepped out to work for a private IT Company.In his evidence he said that he and his family were known to President Museveni, even before he was appointed to work for RPS because they hail from the same place,” Dr Besigye said.
“He said that he’s the one who took Ms Kyakuwa (the rape case complainant) to meet Mr M7 at State House, where, as the Court heard, the case was “constructed”.
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