Who is Ramathan Ggoobi?: Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, family, wife, tribe, wealth, CV, work and experience, political career, Sheema Municipality, early life and education of the current Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance.
Ramathan Ggoobi is a Ugandan Policy Analyst, a political economist who spearheaded the arm ‘economics that works in Uganda’, economics lecturer, author, consultant and the current Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance.
Ggoobi co-authored several studies on Uganda’s economy. He has lived his dream as an economics teacher and is so passionate about imparting and sharing knowledge with others, particularly the young generation.
He tried to change the economic face of Uganda from a complicated and mathematized discipline to user-friendly. Ggoobi says at school, economics appears to be like rocket science, the way it’s taught yet it deals with real-life which would have been embraced by everybody.
One time Ggoobi said an economist who advises a person to invest money in Bitcoin Cryptocurrency; one should have a second look at their CVs because their majors were either accounting or finance. According to Ggoobi, Uganda’s number one problem is poor implementation of policies, strategies and laws.
Early Life and Education
Ramathan Ggoobi was born in Butambala Kitagobwa Nganda. His father was a teacher as well as his mother Lucy Nakibuule but later his father crossed over to civil service while his mother, taught until retirement.
Ggoobi attended Kitagobwa UMEA Primary School and Secondary School. After his secondary school, Ggoobi joined Makerere University from where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 2003.
Later, Ggoobi proceeded with school at Makerere University and attained a Master of Arts in Economic Planning and Policy Economics, 2008-2010.
Work and Experience
After graduating from Makerere University with an economics degree in 2003, Ggoobi who was among the best students of economics was enrolled as an economics lecturer, Makerere University.
However, before completing the induction process with Makerere University, Kampala International University (KIU) contacted Ggoobi in need of his services.
Then a month later, Kampala University contacted him for the same and he accepted until Makerere University Business School contacted him in need of his services.
This is where he has been lecturing until he was appointed Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance on 15th July 2021, by the Fountain of Honors, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni replacing Keith Muhakanizi who was taken to the office of the Prime Minister.
He has taught economics at various universities in the country and trained senior military officers at SCSC Kimaki in Public Sector Economics and Media Relations for five years.
Ggoobi as well wrote a column and blog in the Sunrise Newspaper titled ‘Are You Listening Mr President for eight years. Additionally, Ggoobi analyzed public policy for senior public leaders in Uganda for four years.
Ggoobi also got involved in a global debate of why Neo-Liberation is much taught in economics.
He was inspired into becoming an economist by Prof. Patrick Kabunakuki who persuaded him to pursue economics that works and the former governor of Bank of Uganda and Proprietor of the defunct Greenland Bank, Sulaiman Kiggundu while still in Secondary School.
Kiggundu visited Ggoobi’s Secondary School many times to attend fundraising drives and other school ceremonies. Kiggundu’s stories motivated him and inspired him a lot to study economics and as a result, Ggoobi volunteered to craft Kiggundu’s image as an art piece.
He developed an interest in economics and thought of becoming an economist while in senior three.
Ggoobi’s parents were both teachers, so it seems he inherited the teaching career from his parents, but later, his father became a civil servant. Also, two of his siblings are teachers.
Group
- Teachers of Economics
- American Economics Interest Group
- MUBS Leadership Centre
- Experimental Economics
Family
Ramathan Ggoobi is married to Stella Nakamya, and together they’re parents of two children.
Personality
Ramathan Ggoobi is a simple guy who believes that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication although some individuals take him to be unserious. Ggoobi loves happiness, people a lot and this explains why he shares a lot of information.
According to Ggoobi, perfect happiness is key, which explains having freedom of choices, self-esteem and a stable income.
Ggoobi is extremely a generous man, and he says some people have advised him to lessen his generosity, a loose talker who can’t observe things and keep them to himself. Generally, Ggoobi dislikes people who use their biases to judge others.
Ggoobi admires economists but in particular, Amartya Kumar Sen. He is a professor of economics who he says is like the grandfather of economics that works.
Kumar invented the aspect of development as freedom and worked so hard to switch the mindset of economists who thought that economic development is about countries getting infrastructure. Just like Kumar, Ggoobi believes that development is about people whereby education and health are crucial.
Ggoobi’s greatest extravagance is buying books, sometimes he buys books he will never read.
Leisure Time
Ramathan Ggoobi loves music; sport particularly football, tennis and boxing. For the case of music, he likes R&B, Soul, Pop, Afrobeat and particularly Ugandan music as long as it isn’t noisy and good music.
