President Museveni has reappointed Johnson Byabashaija as the Commissioner General of the Uganda Prisons Service (UPS), rebuffing U.S. sanctions against him.
“In exercise of the powers vested in the President under Article 216 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and in accordance with the advice of the Prisons Authority under sections 10 (1)(b) and 18 0f the Prison Act 2006; I Yoweri Kaguta Museveni do hereby renew the appointment of Dr. Johnson O. R. Byabashaija as Commissioner General of Prisons for a period of 24 months on local contract terms with effect from May 2, 2024,” the new appointment letter reads in part.
This means Byabashaija, a key ally of the president, will stay in his position till the end of the 2026 general elections.
Byabashaija was expected to retire in 2020 but President Museveni has been extending his term of service.
In 2020, Parliament attempted to block Byabashaija’s reappointment as he had clocked the mandatory retirement age of 60.
“I am 62 years-old. I work on three-year contracts. I retired from Public Service in 2005 and I have been working in Prisons since then,” Byabashaija said then.
Byabashaija joined the prisons in 1989 as a cadet Assistant Superintendent of prisons.