KAGAME APPOINTED MINISTER OF TANZANIAN ORIGIN

Prof. Silas Lwakabamba

KIGALI, RWANDA.

President Paul Kagame has appointed a professor of Tanzanian origin, Silas Lwakabamba, as his minister for Infrastructure in a cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday following a cabinet reshuffle.

According to information obtained from The Citizen sources in Rwanda, Kagame has been satisfied and impressed by Prof Lwakabamba’s performance in various posts he has been holding. He has also granted him Rwandese nationality.

The source said Rwandese have also commended the head of state for  putting interests of Rwanda first when appointing Prof Lwakabamba.

Born and educated in Tanzania, Prof Silas Lwakabamba went to the University of Leeds in the UK for his training in Engineering. After graduating with a BSc (1971) and a PhD (1975) in Mechanical Engineering, he returned to Tanzania to join the staff of the Faculty of Engineering, which had just started at the University of Dar es Salaam. He progressed rapidly through the ranks and attained his professorship in 1981. He gained managerial experience along the way.

He became Head of Department, Associate Dean, and eventually Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. In 1985, Prof Lwakabamba joined the UN- sponsored African Regional Centre for Engineering Design and Manufacturing (ARCEDEM) based in Nigeria, as a founding Director of Training and Extension Services.

He became the founding Rector of Rwanda’s Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in 1997, and, in 2006, he was appointed the Rector of the National University of Rwanda, the largest public institution of higher learning in that country, a position he occupied until Tuesday’s appointment.