JUST ASKING: How to solve a problem like Trade PS Ssali aka Gerry?

The recent developments at farmers house in Kampala show there is a problem Public Service bosses if not Gen.Museveni, must solve and that’s Trade Ministry PS Geraldine Ssali aka Gerry.

We are told the PS has created a toxic working environment at the ministry due to her conduct—a problem which needs to be solved as soon as possible.

Her political supervisor Minister Francis Mwebesa has already asked public service head Lucy Nakyobe to do something.

New junior Minister Gen.Wilson Mbadi is equally shocked by the state of affairs there, while David Bahati ran out of words a long time ago.

Ssali’s usual true colours came out early this month when she allegedly slapped and later interdicted the ministry’s legal officer, Sandra Aneno Karen.

We are told before Aneno’s incidence, many junior and equally senior officials have been choking on her larger than life conduct at the Ministry.

Last year, the Secretary to the Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi suspended Ssali as the Ministry’s accounting officer on the recommendations of a Parliament inquiry into alleged acts of corruption at the Ministry. However, Gen. Museveni saved the day by ordering the reinstatement.

This is not her first time Ssali is involved in an office spat.

Her exit story from NSSF where she once worked as deputy MD and acting MD is still fresh.

“How do you run such a ministry? It was prudent Byarugaba to throw out this lady. Everybody can’t be bad wherever you go,” wonders one of the concerned Ugandans.

There is also so much drama in Ssali’s love life as we shall reveal in our subsequent publications. Sources say it is this drama that saw a city lawyer dump her for a banker lady.

Not to go down without a fight, Ssali, in an explosive letter warned the lawyer never to subject anyone’s daughter to anything like he did to her.

“…If you knew you were committed elsewhere, why, why? Besides, I was so used to our ka “flat” but sweet friendship anyway. Mukwano, you got my little heart in the palm of your hands and slashed it open in one stroke, leaving me to bleed. I cannot find the words to describe the pain, my humble suggestion to you- never subject anyone’s daughter to anything like this again. It hurts real badly, it’s still better to have loved and lost…” Geraldine exploded. This is a story for another day.

WIDER PICTURE

Because of the acrimony and court battles that characterized her departure from the NSSF DMD job, a few years ago, the flamboyant MBA holder, 48, is a well-publicized personality with plenty of name recognition.

Today, we reflect on who she is as you have never known.

One of things that greatly impact on how efficient people/leaders turn out is the mentoring they experience as they scale up the career ladder.

And in the case of Gerry (as pals fondly call her) she has had the opportunity to be mentored by the best. This ideally should transform her into an excellent public official prudently going about her duties.

Some of the iconic Ugandan officials from whom she had her mentorship include ex-PSST Chris Kassami, the late Ivan Kyayonka who excelled and did well as businessman, private sector leader, corporate leader, MD Shell Uganda and later on Chairman for the NSSF Governing Board.

He was also stinking rich and it was in the capacity of NSSF Chairman that Kyayonka impacted on then much younger Geraldine Ssali. This was during her tenure at NSSF where she served as DMD for 6 years (2 terms) and also as Ag MD for one year.

In one of her past media interviews, Ssali recalled having learnt a lot from Kyayonka for the period he supervised her at NSSF. That he taught her the importance of the top apex leader always setting out to deliberately empower those working under them to do the job at hand and make all the relevant decisions without unnecessarily interfering. Kyayonka also believed in protecting such subordinates against attacks and demonization by adversaries they encountered as they went about executing the job as assigned.

He also always insisted that those working under his supervision must despise mediocrity and pettiness as they think big while seeking to execute or implement grand ideas. Ms Ssali learnt all these from Kyayonka for the three years she closely worked under his direct supervision as NSSF DMD and Ag MD at the same time. Those who have had the opportunity to work under her supervision testify that she spontaneously exhibits these very credentials as a boss.

Ms Ssali also worked under the supervision of seasoned retired Permanent Secretary Vincent Sekono who preceded Kyayonka at NSSF. Her past media interview, referenced earlier on referenced upon, indicates that from Mzee Sekono Ms Ssali learnt the good and bad that can potentially result from the overall boss being too bureaucratic and conventional in their approach to public service work. That experience was equally enriching and strengthened her. Hailing from Nabigasa in Kyotera district, Ms Ssali is also a staunch Catholic and has over the years learnt alot from priests among other leaders under her Catholic practice.

She remains deeply spiritual when it comes to Catholicism and in Lubowa where she lives, she is part of a group of well-off corporates who continue to support the establishment of huge structures for the community Catholic Church in Kitiko which is between Lubowa hill and Lweza. In fact, her appointment was celebrated as such a big achievement not just for her but the entire Catholic Church community falling under Lweza parish where Katikkiro Peter Mayiga also fellowships/worships from.

Ms Ssali was brought up by very strict parents (Mr & Mrs Ssali) who are now elderly and comfortably enjoying their retirement from Namungoona after Kasubi where they live off a huge estate consisting of upscale rentals they built over the years. Mzee Ssali, her father, is in his late 70s and is a retired civil servant. He is very close to his daughter Gerry and ensured, just like was the case with the other siblings, that she was brought up and mentored into an adult that would be God-fearing, friendly, prayerful and honest.

Mzee Ssali to this day insists his children, and more so Gerry who is very close to him, must always exercise humility, make friends and always be true to those they claim to love or be friends with. As a well-traveled civil servant, he taught his children the importance of being courteous and also valuing social capital because that is how one generates useful contacts. He has indeed always been very protective and supportive of his daughter (even as an adult) as we shall illustrate in the latter part .

EDUCATION

When it comes to formal education, Ms Ssali (who was born and raised at the large Namungoona home) was exposed to the very best within Uganda and abroad. In the early 1980s, she attended elementary education at the prestigious Buganda Road Primary School for seven years before joining Gayaza, where she completed her O & A’levels, for 6 years. In 1993/4, Ms Ssali joined Makerere University, where she read Bsc Statistics, on government sponsorship. And CCE/Complex was her hall of residence (was also the LC1 Chairperson) and the same would be her abode for the next 3 years up to 1997 when she completed her studies and left Makerere ahead of her graduation ceremony which took place in 1998.

Being a go-getter, which was always the wish of Mzee Ssali, Geraldine immediately began looking for a job between doing her last exam paper and graduation. She dropped her CV at a number of places that were perceived to be lucrative employers namely Uganda Revenue Authority, Electoral Commission, Greenland Bank and others. Her expectation was that by graduation, she would be having a placement at least as a volunteer for purposes of accumulating the necessary experience. It never worked, prompting her father (who was eager to see his daughter do something and begin to earn her own money) to consider plan B.

And that plan B had a lot to do with joining her elder brother (Mzee Ssali’s 2^nd born) who was already well-established in the UK. Mzee Ssali put together some money insisting that his daughter must travel to the UK immediately after graduation in case she continued being unsuccessful with job hunting. That is exactly what happened. Air ticket and some upkeep money was improvised and Ms Ssali travelled by British Airways immediately after graduation. While in London, she enrolled for a professional accounting course at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (remains their Fellow to this day).

Desirous not to overburden her brother, Ms Ssali plotted to do some casual jobs as she studied. That is how she sought and got a job with MacDonald’s where she served balloons to kids besides cleaning tables. She was able to earn some good pounds per hour which she used to make ends meet. This employment enabled her to get a UK National Insurance Number which she used to secure more gainful employment. This was at the London Bridge under NPC Logistics where she served as a records/book keeper.

Teaming up with other equally young Ugandans hassling in the UK (she was in her early 20s), Ms Ssali determined to get a second job for the weekends to enhance her earnings as she was determined to meet all her finance requirements without having to burden her brother that much. This weekend job had to do with being a crowd watcher (security guard of sorts) at the English soccer stadia. The English can be such crazy soccer lovers and crowd control and management can be such a nightmare for the match organizers hence the need to hire a category of workers called “crowd watchers” and Ms Ssali earned some good money being one of them as she did her studies.

Immediately after her first UK course, she enrolled for MBA at the prestigious University of Manchester’s School of business where other eminent Ugandan corporate and technocratic leaders have trained before. These include ex-BoU Deputy Governor Dr. Louis Kasekende, PBU MD Julius Kakeeto and the famous economic analyst Fred Muhumuza (based at Makerere). The MBA was costly and Ms Ssali had to part with up to 5,000 Pounds per Semester and at a time she was almost failing to raise the required financing, a very good opportunity came knocking. And this was a job to work with Her Majesty the Queen’s Service in London under Chancellor of Exchequer (at Plot No 11 Downing Street). It had 5 Directorates including the one for Corporate Services which Geraldine Ssali, young as she was, headed.

She earned very good money and this was to be her place of work for the next 5 years. They funded the remainder of her MBA training and assigned her a very luxurious apartment (a pent house of sorts) which even leading movie stars would hire to shoot their movies. Remarkably, it was while in London that she found Mr. Victor Francis Busulwa who eventually became her husband and father of her three children. Coincidentally, she realized later on, Mr. Busulwa’s parents (now deceased) were close friends and business partners with her own father Mzee Ssali. The Busulwas hail from Kyaggwe/Mukono and have their home in Kansanga where Victor grew up from before joining his other siblings in the UK where he studied law.

As she went about her job in the UK/Queen’s Service, Ms Ssali earned the money (and a lot of it) but was always home-sick thinking about her siblings and elderly parents. That is how in late 2009 she applied for a three months’ leave which she intended to use to travel to Uganda and even got a job there. Teams from Standard & Chartered Bank Group Kampala had been to London head-hunting for people to employ back home in Kampala but she was never considered even when she showed interest. The plan was to use the three months to intensify job-hunting to avoid having to rejoin Her Majesty’s Service which she resented for the lonely life it exposed her to. She unsuccessfully applied to the EAC and COMESA Secretariat for the jobs that had been advertised. The OAG advertised for COO to which she responded but wasn’t considered.

She became hopeless with friends asserting that she was “too Londonized” to ever succeed in getting any job in Uganda. As she reflected on all these uncertainties, Ms Ssali teamed up with Mr. Busulwa, her spouse, and they ventured into recreation business by opening up Kitinda Lakeside Resort besides the beach they operated at a location near SOS Children’s Village headquarters (after Abayita Ababiri/on your left as you drive to Entebbe). Mr & Mrs Ssali surrendered some of their old pickups that had for years been abandoned in their large Namungoona compound which the young couple used to run all the errands relating to their recreation business. These errands included driving to Owino market every morning (as early as 6am) to buy vegetables and other inputs for their Kitinda restaurant.

One day Mzee Ssali drew Gerry’s attention to an advert by NSSF seeking to recruit a Deputy MD (it stressed being female was an added advantage). Prof Mondo Kagonyera, deputizing Chandy Jjamwa, had been fired along with his boss and the entire Board except Eng Martin Kasekende. Having overlooked skepticism by friends who kept discouraging her saying “those jobs are for the politically connected which you aren’t,” Ms Ssali applied and unexpectedly got the job. She was away doing her private things when Hope Bizimana, who was the head HR at NSSF, rang her saying “you are the next interviewee and the board members will be expecting you in the next 20 minutes.” She grabbed Mzee Ssali’s pick up (after Bizimana assured her it was for the best and not politically connected) and rushed to the Fund.

Months later, as she was arriving at Kitinda with her husband for the day’s work, Fred Muhumuza (the Manchester University OB) who was then Economic Advisor to Finance Minister Syda Bbumba rang saying she must rush to the Finance Ministry and communicate her acceptance and pick her appointment letter because she had emerged the best candidate for the job of DMD. Muhumuza made it clear there wasn’t much time and Ms Ssali had to be there quickly. Alternatively he demanded to know her preferred address where the documents could be delivered and Ms Ssali didn’t have any such easily recognizable or traceable address in Kampala.

Muhumuza allowed her to organize and come tomorrow to pick everything and that is what happened. An excited Mzee Ssali offered to drive her to the Finance Ministry to witness this miracle get unveiled into his daughter’s face. They got trapped into a traffic jam of Wandegeya yet Muhumuza kept calling asserting it was getting late. This prompted Ms Ssali to jump onto a Boda-Boda to reach the Finance Ministry on time. On arrival, she was told that was inappropriate for the big DMD office she was about to occupy.

In fact, this NSSF experience is the reason she didn’t easily get recruited for a job anywhere in Kampala (post-NSSF) as would-be hirers would say “this lady is used to big things, big budgets and potentially big salary expectations.”