By Asenath Were
The Uganda Christian University (UCU) Save the Mothers has held a transition of power from the acting Executive Director, Dr. Edward Mukooza, to Dr. Mushin Nsubuga.
Mukooza was acting head for a year, though during his arrival in office, he charged the Save the Mothers board to find a substantive executive director.
“I am very confident that between six and eight months, there should be somebody substantive rather than interim, and that is perhaps my main responsibility,” Mukooza said around this time last year when Save the Mothers directorship was handed over to him by the then Executive Director Miriam Mutabaazi.
Even though it has not been six or eight months as he had declared then, it has been exactly one year and a few weeks since, and in a handover ceremony held on February 15 at Mirembe Hall, Edward Mukooza handed over his directorship to Mushin Nsubuga as the new substantive executive director for Save the Mothers.
“I thank God that He has brought us together for this noble cause of saving mothers, and we reduce maternal death,” said Nsubuga.
Mukooza said that his period of leadership has been very peaceful for him and that he is thankful to God. “I had a lot of work to do here and a lot of work at my office, and people know that I do consultancies, but the peace has been overwhelming, so I believe it was God.” Mukooza commented.
He also gave credit to his wife, who permitted him to take office when he did, the board members, to whom he says, “it is so peaceful to work with orderly people,” and the staff, who, according to him, made his work easy with their collaboration.
Nsubuga thanked Save the Mothers for the partnership they have with UCU, and according to him, they are very happy to see this partnership continue.
Save the Mothers thanked Mukooza for his contribution to their Masters in Public Health Leadership program (MPHL) and Mother Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (MBFHI) programs, as well as his guidance during his time as interim executive director.
“We want to thank you for coordinating the virtual meeting we had last year between Uganda and Canada. Such coordination is not easy since some people were in offices, others were on the road, and still, others had different time zones, but we had meaningful meetings.” Said the dean of nursing and public health.
Save the Mothers is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes maternal health in the developing world through education, public awareness, and advocacy.