Early this year, the members of the ever-expanding Muhoozi Movement faction- Team Chairman in the United States of America converged in Massachusetts, Boston to elect their leaders in what was seen by many as General Muhoozi Keinerugaba’s strategic move to neutralize opposition against the Government in the diaspora.
Andrew Mwase is one of the top leaders who were elected and charged with the mountainous task of selling General Muhoozi’s planned presidential ambition to fellow diasporans who have historically been predominantly opposition-aligned.
Just months after his election, Mwase made a maiden fact-finding trip to Kampala in what he says is intended to assess the progress of the movement on behalf of the executive back in the US to inform their next course of action in what is expected to be a lengthy program towards the success of the movement.
While on a fact-finding trip in Uganda as head of Twegaite, he made several of these trips across half of Uganda and participated in the northern Uganda rehabilitation strategy.
While appearing on Baba TV’s Hot Cup@9 talk show last week, Mwase expounded on why he and his team back in the US had resolved to back Muhoozi for the topmost seat, urging he was the most qualified among all they saw posturing for the position.
He highlighted the need for a peaceful transition that will also ensure the gains achieved over the past three decades against violence and anarchy which he said only the first son can guarantee.
Asked by the host, Simon Muyanga Lutaaya to explain why he would go for a soldier to take over from Museveni at a time when the country should have been preparing to return to civilian rule, he crashed the narrative, saying that even in modern democracies like the US have had over 80℅ of their leaders serving in the military at some point.
On the concern that Muhoozi would direct the country towards a monarchical kind of legacy, Mwase exemplified cases in America where Presidents like J. W Bush ruled after their fathers and that didn’t stop the country from retaining its democratic tenets.
Mwase, who remains in the country travelling the different regions has accentuated the need for strategic coordination between the diaspora and the government which he says is a sure avenue for development.
He prominently featured in Busoga for his role in the cultural pacification of the Kingdom after the death of King Wako Wambuzi as Chairman of the Twegaite cultural association in the US.
Formed in the 1980s as a cultural umbrella for Basoga in America, Mwase is credited for having revamped Twegaite in the early 2000s after it had stalled and provided viable leadership for its Chairman.
His commendable leadership acumen was hailed for bringing prominent members in the diaspora onboard in combination with their counterparts back home.
Twegaite prominently participated in the negotiations that led to the installation of the current Busoga Kyabazing His Royal Highness William Wilberforce Gabula Nadiope years after the vacuum provided by the demise of former King Henry Wako Wambuzi in 2008.
The association also helped hundreds of Ugandans to get admitted to different universities both in the US and Canada.
While visiting the Team Chairman leaders for Busoga in Jinja recently, he called upon them to unite and pledged the support of the diaspora community towards alleviating poverty in the region.
Mwase now says he and his teammates under Team Chairman are shifting their focus towards playing an active role in the transformation of their motherland through creating strong synergies between the diaspora community and the government.
He underscores the role of the diaspora community in marketing the country to the world which would serve to immensely sell its tourism potential to the world and also attract foreign capital inflow, hence more development.
Who is Andrew Mwase?
Andrew Mwase was born and raised in Jinja, Eastern Uganda on 24. October. 1972 to Mzee Engineer Aspasa Keneth Mwase, a Britain-trained Textiles Engineer and Alice Lovisa Mwase, a retired midwife at Jinja Hospital.
Mwase went to Victoria Nile Primary School in the heart of Jinja City to fit his Primary education. He later joined Busoga College Mwiiri, an all-boys high-end school in the region at the time where he completed his O’levels.
He then joined Kings College Budo for A level before enrolling at the country’s most prestigious Makerere University where he qualified as a biochemical Engineer.
In 1998, Mwase joined some of his family in the United States, notably, his elder brother, Eng. Micheal Mwase who ran a real estate business in the US at the time.
” things were not so easy at first as you may think. It took me about three years on the street before I was legally accepted into the country. In the meantime, I wandered from one place to another, doing all sorts of odd jobs that I chanced to lay my hands on,” the multi-propertied proudly recounts.
Andrew is currently the CEO of KLM Properties and Investments, a family-based property and Investment organization operating in the Northeast of the USA. Andrew is also former
Chairman and President of Twegaite International Organization and still a director on the
board.
He has other responsibilities in several family-based firms in the UK and Uganda. He has also worked in several Biotechnology Companies as a Scientist and
Engineer and directed several multinational projects. He is also currently the head of
Engineering at Emergent BioSolutions, a major BioPharma making life-saving drugs like
Narcan (Naloxone) and safeguarding millions against public health threats.
Andrew completed graduate studies in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University Medford, MA USA and graduate studies in Project Management and International
Business Management at Boston University, Boston.
Mwase Andrew is an avid sportsman, and recovering adrenaline junkie and supports several nonprofit
organizations.
He is a married man with four children, all of them living in the US.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
