Rwandan envoys in UK, India to swap posting

Rwanda’s envoys in the UK and India are to switch posts, according to the communiqué from Wednesday’s cabinet meeting held at Village Urugwiro.

The cabinet meeting proposed that Rwanda’s current High Commissioner to India, Williams Nkurunziza, swaps offices with the his current UK counterpart, Ernest Rwamucyo. Both diplomats have been serving since 2010.

Rwamucyo

At the annual diplomat awards in London, last year, Rwamucyo became the first Rwandan envoy to win the impressive ‘Diplomat of the Year for Africa’ award. 

Previously, he worked with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), in New York, as Policy Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 

Before joining UNDP, he worked for the Government as Director-General for Economic Development Planning in the Ministry of Finance. He was also Director of Strategic planning and Poverty Reduction Monitoring in the Ministry.

Prior to that, he worked at the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) Secretariat as head of Economic Planning. Rwamucyo also served as chair and member of board of directors of several public and private enterprises and NGOs. 

The former researcher and assistant lecturer at the National University of Rwanda holds a masters degree in Development Policy and Planning from Cornell and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from NUR.

Nkurunziza

He was the first head of Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency, which would later be merged with other agencies to create the Rwanda Development Board.

Having residence in the Indian capital, New Delhi, Nkurunziza was also accredited to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. As Rwanda’s envoy in India, he has played a role in the flow of Indian businesses to Rwanda, among others. 

Currently, the High Commission in India also covers Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.

Credited for tireless promotional efforts that helped to reposition Rwanda globally as an attractive investment destination and for opening the first agencies in India, China and Canada, Nkurunziza boasts rich private sector experience, having served at senior corporate management levels in Namibia, Kenya and Uganda. 

He was Group Managing Director, Habib Investments Limited, a holding company in Uganda. 

The golf, reading and poetry enthusiast attended Universities in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa and he holds an MBA (South Africa), BA (Hons. Uganda) and PGD Mass Communication (Kenya).