Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Dr. Monica Musenero Masanza as the new Minister for Energy and Mineral Development.
Dr. Masanza succeeds Hon. Ruth Ssentamu Nankabirwa, who served as minister from 2021 to 2026. She steps into this role at a pivotal time as Uganda rapidly develops its energy potential and anticipates achieving first oil later this year.
Dr. Musenero previously served as the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation under the Office of the President, as Senior Presidential Advisor on Epidemics, and was a key player in Uganda’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A diversely trained and skilled consultant and scientist, Dr. Musenero has extensive national and international experience. She has worked as an Assistant Lecturer at Makerere University, Assistant Commissioner for Epidemiology and Surveillance at the Uganda Ministry of Health, and Principal Program Officer with the Africa Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET).
Internationally, she spent three years as Field Coordinator with the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone, where her expertise and heroic efforts helped bring the West African Ebola outbreak under control—earning recognition from both the Sierra Leonean and Ugandan governments.
In Uganda, she has been at the forefront of designing and implementing the highly successful Epidemic Preparedness and Response system and has played a key role in responding to all Ebola and Marburg outbreaks in the country since 2007.
Dr. Musenero earned her MS in Science at Cornell University, USA, majoring in Microbiology with a focus on Immunology, Molecular Biology, and Vaccine Development.
She later obtained a Master’s in Public Health from Makerere University, specializing in Field Epidemiology.
She has been a central figure in advancing the One Health movement in Uganda and across Africa, introducing the first multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary teams—including anthropologists and sociologists—to create interventions that effectively contained plague outbreaks in the country.
She has also served as Technical Advisor for the USAID-funded One Health Workforce Program.
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