Ernest Kakwano, a former prominent member of the external wing of the National Resistance Army (NRA) which ushered President Museveni into power in 1986, has died. Kakwano, who also served as head of Coffee Marketing Board in the late 1980s, passed away this Easter Sunday.
“This morning, I received a call informing me of the passing of a dear friend, hero and committed member of the NRA/M External Wing, Comrade Kakwano Kakwano,” said retired Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde.
“Kakwano and his wife Alice were part of the support system that sustained the struggle both in Uganda and in exile,” he added.
“The Kakwano’s, alongside several other NRA External Wing members, provided unwavering support to many injured NRA combatants turned refugees including myself and others, in every possible manner, often in very difficult and risky circumstances.”
The family is yet to disclose the businessman’s cause of death.
Rising from Humble Beginnings:
Ernest Kakwano firmly believed that the future of business, and our world, will belong to those with new ideas. With this, he eas part of the World Food Bank team.
He believed that new ideas must be implemented quickly in order to realize profit and serve humanity while they are still relevant. New products, systems, and scientific knowledge are coming on stream so fast that businesses need reliable connectivity in order to keep themselves relevant and profitable.
In 1981, a war broke out in Uganda, and Ernest and his family were forced into exile in Nairobi, Kenya, where they set up business dealing in Japanese cars. While living there, Ernest and his wife Alice contributed greatly to the war effort in Uganda, on the side of NRA to reinstate the current democratic parliamentary system of government.
In 1986, when the war ended and the Ugandan government was reinstated, Ernest and his family returned home. His wife and he were named War Heroes, and Ernest was contracted by the new government to work alongside other economists at the World Bank and the IMF to study and advise the government on ways to revive the economy. Ernest’s role specifically was to head up the country’s main export earner, the Uganda Coffee and Marketing Board. His charge was to turn the board around, dissolve the state’s monopoly on the coffee trade, and hand the coffee value chain over to the private sector.
He did that successfully, and, upon completing his contracts with the government, Ernest teamed up with his son, Edgar, to start a commodities export company. Through that endeavor, Ernest quickly discovered that the East Africa industry had a major supply chain issue, as drought conditions meant local farmers were not able to keep up with demand for grains. In attempting to solve this challenge and find new suppliers, Ernest discovered the World Food Bank with CEO Richard Lackey.
