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Gerald Bareebe President

Rt. Hon. Gerald Bareebe, Jr. is a journalist born in a rural village in western Uganda. He has worked as an investigative journalist at The Daily Monitor, Uganda's largest and most influential independent daily newspaper. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Communication with a major in Political Science from Makerere University, a Master's degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Studies (Makerere University), and an Advanced Master's Degree in Governance and Development from the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Before joining The Daily Monitor, Gerald worked as a Research Assistant at Makerere University.While at Makerere University, Gerald was a news editor of the University online newspaper, The Ivory Post, a talk-show host on campus radio station and a web-manager of the journalism-students-owned weekly newspaper, The Masscom onlineHis senior dissertation 'News and politics' which examined the media coverage of 2006 Uganda presidential election received a special recognition by Makerere University, department of Mass Communication.He has received numerous recognitions, including a World Journalism Institute (2009) fellowship in New York, and he was one of the key speakers at the 2009 Convention of the US National Association of Black Journalists. In 2009, Gerald was recognised as one of the best journalists in Uganda for leading an investigation that resulted in a 14-year jail sentence for a senior military officer who had killed two opposition activists and maimed two others. In the same year, Gerald broke a number of horrifying torture cases by security agencies in Uganda. In one case, for example, he exposed the situation of Mr Francis Atugonza, the Hoima town mayor, who was arrested and detained in a military 'safe house' for weeks, and tortured by soldiers attached to the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT). His investigation became a huge undercover revelation as regards the torture activities of the elusive Kololo-based military outfit.In January 2010, Gerald produced front cover investigations about the activities of JATT, which showed that the Uganda Human Rights Commission, a government human rights watchdog, had been blocked three times from inspecting the safe houses of JATT. This made it impossible for the human rights defenders to ascertain the condition of the detained suspects. The uproar that followed his exposé forced the Ugandan government to disband JATT, an anti-terrorism organisation that was operating under the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.Because of his determined effort to promote human rights and good governance, the World Bank named Gerald among the top ten young anti-corruption activists in the world for the year 2010. Consequently, he was selected to engage youth in the formulation of the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Campaign (GYAC). Through that campaign, he was able to inspire youth to lobby for access to information and legislation, taught them how to formulate youth anti-corruption awareness-raising campaigns and trained them with new methods to conduct diagnostic governance assessments. Since the campaign was launched in 2010, GYAC has provided its 45 member countries with support for capacity and knowledge building in various governance areas, and on using ICT tools to drive government reform processes.Gerald has broken some of the most intriguing corruption scandals in Uganda's history, including his 2009 investigation which forced parliament to order the President to refund state funds he had illegally used during the 2001 presidential election.During the country's hotly contested 2011 Presidential election, Gerald investigated and exposed a corruption scandal involving members of the Country’s first family. His investigation implicated two of the President's sons-in-law in an attempt to bribe key opposition figures from the oil-rich Bunyoro region. This scandal involved a Shs1.5 billion pay-off. His exposé dominated local and international media throughout the country's 2011 presidential election.In his native country, Gerald has covered Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council elections. His work has been featured on the Voice of America, Aljazeera, The Daily Monitor, The East African, The National Post, the Institute for Media and Global Governance (Geneva), the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Basel Institute on Governance.His 2012 academic research about the civil war in northern Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was published in the Annuaire des grands lacs, an externally peer-reviewed French Journal.In 2012, following the completion of his second master's degree in Belgium, Gerald was accepted as a Jeanne Sauvé Scholar at McGill University. Established by the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation and McGill University in 2003, the Sauvé Scholars' program is a highly competitive graduate scholarship whose aim is to "equip, empower and enable emerging leaders to address critical global challenges in their respective communities and countries".As a Sauvé Scholar, Gerald assumed the position of academic visitor at McGill University and his research investigated the mechanisms that strengthen government institutions. On 22 March 2013, he presented his research entitled "The state of Democracy in Uganda: Charting a Path from Strongman Politics to Strong Institutions” at a public debate at McGill University. The debate was hosted and moderated by Professor Christopher Manfredi, a distinguished political scientist and Dean, Faculty of Arts at McGill University and was supported by the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation. In his discussion, Gerald argued that President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda largely relies on family members (relatives, in-laws) and close acolytes for his regime to thrive. In doing so, he noted, Mr Museveni has shown no regard for meritocracy as he continues to wield effective power through an informal clique which falls within his patronage network.In April 2013, Gerald was invited at the home of Canada’s Governor General at Rideau Hall to speak to diplomats and policy-makers about the need for education partnerships between Canada and Africa. He joined a panel which included Professor Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia and Chair of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada; Dr. James Mwangi, CEO and managing director, Equity Bank and Professor Handley from the University of Toronto. The Panelists considered the opportunities and challenges of enhancing co-operation between African and Canadian universities, and what it is that institutions – and students – can learn from each other.On 24 April 2013, Gerald was invited to deliver a statement of solidarity at the gathering of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in Montreal. In it, he compared the injustices brought about by Canada's Residential School System to the on-going intolerable civil wars, torture, genocide, and other horrific acts of repression and oppression perpetrated by governments and other armed groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the same month, Gerald spoke about the role of the media and city society in promoting positive change at the gathering of the Garnet Key Society at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada.Throughout 2012, Gerald (with other Sauvé scholars) met and held discussions with top policy makers in Canada and around the world, including H.E David Johnston (Governor General of Canada) Rosalie Abella (Canada Supreme Court Justice), Kavin Page (Canada's first Parliamentary Budget Officer), Justin Trudeau (Liberal Party Leader), Thomas Mulcair (Leader of the Official Opposition in Canada, NDP) and Elizabeth May (Green Party Leader), among others.On 14 May 2013, Gerald was announced among the 14 students who were awarded a $2.5 million Trudeau Scholarship, the most prestigious doctoral award of its kind in Canada. The scholarship supports brilliant social sciences and humanities doctoral students who are focused on researching and sharing innovative ideas that will help solve issues of critical importance to Canadians and the world. Although he was offered other PhD funding packages by Queen's University and The University of Alberta, Gerald decided to use his Trudeau funding to pursue doctoral studies in Political Science at the University of Toronto.His long-term goal is to create a platform through which Ugandans can demand accountability and concrete actions from their government with respect to corruption and human rights abuses.Gerald comes from a humble background and is therefore no stranger to the hardships of life, which is why he believes that education is the only way to redeem Africa from Poverty.