Olive Lumonya, the current country director of the children charity, SOS, has been appointed the deputy managing director of Uganda’s Civil Aviation Authority, a statement issued by the national aviation regulator said.
“This is to announce the appointment of Ms. Olive Birungi Lumonya as the deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority. She will be commencing her duties with the Authority on November 15, 2021,” the statement said.
Earlier press reports indicated that Lumonya had emerged as the best candidate in interviews for the director general position in the Authority that was advertised earlier this year. It is not clear why she was not appointed to the position.
Recently, Gen. Edward Wamala, the Minister of Works & Transport under whose docket the Authority falls, appointed Mr. Fred Bamwesigye as the CAA director general. Under the law governing the Authority, the Board of Directors advertises and interviews candidates for the Authority’s top positions, they then recommend the best three candidates to the line Minister, who takes the final decision and makes the appointment.
A former board member of the CAA, Lumonya becomes one of the few journalists in Uganda to grow from a field reporter to the corporate C-Suit roles. A member of the very first cohort of the bachelor of Mass Communication of Makerere University (graduating in 1992), Lumonya started out as a reporter for then influential The Weekly Topic newspaper. She also reported for The New Vision before branching out to the corporate world where she became a household name as the brand and marketing manager for the Jinja based Nile Breweries.
She later joined the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to become the head of communications and marketing, replacing Charles Muhoozi, the current managing director of Clarkson Insurance Brokers, who himself came to the NSSF after serving for several years as the communications manager of a beer maker – Uganda Breweries.
Over the years, Lumonya has amassed business and corporate management experience serving as the board chairperson of Finca Uganda as well as in the boards of CAA and charities/development outfits like Uganda Women’s Efforts to Save Orphans (UWESO), Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG), Uganda Children Rights Network (UCRNN).
She has been the country director of SOS since 2014.
