The Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) Boss Josephine Wapakhabulo quits office after but reasons of his resignation are not yet established by press time. According to sources the company confirmed by board chairperson, Emmanuel Katongole, last evening acknowledged receipt of Dr. Josephine Wapakabulo’s resignation letter as chief executive officer, but said it ‘has not been accepted yet’.
“The board will sit and discuss a way forward; we have a management succession plan, but Josephine is still working, she will leave after three months,” Mr Katongole said.
Unoc is the statutory body mandated to manage the country’s commercial interests in the nascent oil sector, including marketing of the country’s share of petroleum received in kind, and to develop expertise in the oil and gas industry.
The company
was incorporated in June 2015 and its body structure put in place starting with
the board later that year, and subsequently Dr Wapakabulo, daughter to the
former Speaker of Parliament, was appointed as chief executive officer on June
1, 2016.
But after almost three years on the job, Dr Wapakabulo yesterday tendered in
her resignation to the board ‘with immediate effect.’
Wapakabulo’s remarks
“Chairperson, it has been an honour and privilege to work with you, the board,
the staff of Unoc, as we set up and established Unoc to handle the state’s
commercial interests in the oil and gas sector.
“However, the time has come for me to focus on my family and new
opportunities,” Dr Wapakabulo’s letter, read in part.
She similarly shared the same news of her
exit from the lucrative national oil company to staff in an internal email of
the company.
She, likewise, communicated the news to the Ministry of Energy—the supervising
agency—top officials through WhatsApp messages.She did not state the specific
reasons for her resignation.