Who is Louis Austin Kasekende? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, early life, wife, education, family, work and experience, relationship with Edith Kasekende, late Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, Michael Atingi-Ego, the World Bank, Bank of Uganda and career of a Ugandan economist.
Louis Kasekende is a Ugandan economist and Executive Director of the Macroeconomics and Financial Management, Institute of Eastern & Southern Africa (MEFMI), based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Kasekende took up the role on 1st April 2021.
Early Life and Education
Louis Kasekende was born on 29th August 1958 at Nsambya Hospital, Kampala Uganda.
He attended Makerere University from where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Economics. Kasekende proceeded with school and acquired a Master’s Degree and a PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Work and Experience
From 1988-1994, Louis Austin Kasekende began work as a part-time lecturer at Makerere University.
Then in 1986, he joined the Bank of Uganda and served in various capacities including Director of Research, Executive Director of Research and Policy, and Deputy Governor.
Between 2002 and 2004, Kasekende served the World Bank, representing twenty-two countries with Uganda inclusive on the bank’s executive board after being seconded by the government of Uganda.
From May 2006 to 2009, he served as AFDB’s Chief Economist at the African Development Bank (AFDB), in Tunis, Tunisia.
In this capacity, Kasekende was credited for playing a great role in the AFDB’s efforts to assist African economies in withstanding the impact of the global economic crisis.
He was the Bank’s spokesperson on socio-economic and development issues of importance for Africa. Kasekende supervised the statistics department, the African Development Institute and the Development Research Department.
January 2010, Louis Austin Kasekende got re-appointed to the office of the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda (BoU) to serve for the next five years.
In January 2020, at the expiry of his second consecutive term as Deputy Governor of Bank of Uganda, and without any indication that he would be re-appointed, Louis Kasekende handed over office to his boss at the time, the late Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile and left the central bank.
Then on April 1st 2021, Kasekende got appointed as the Executive Director of the Macroeconomics and Financial Management Institute of Eastern & Southern Africa (MEFMI), based in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city.
Kasekende replaced Mr Michael Atingi-Ego, who got appointed to the position of Deputy Governor BoU on April 23, 2020, after serving MEFMI since September 2018 replacing Dr Kasekende.
Dr Kasekende has previously served as a member of the United Nations Group of Eminent Persons for the Least Developed Countries and the World Bank Knowledge Advisory Commission.
Louis Kasekende as well served on the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK) Board, the International Economics Association (IEA), African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS) and as a member of the National Steering Committee on Capital Markets Development in Uganda.
Dr Kasekende is a member of the Rotary Club of Kampala North.
Controversy
Louis Austin Kasekende was accused of using his sons, daughters and wife to get himself unsecured loans for business from Centenary Bank.
From 1999 till 2002, when Kasekende first served as the deputy governor, the BOU, controversially shut down The Cooperative Bank and Greenland Bank that drove the country into a tailspin, as the two banks were much important to the then economic sector.
It should be remembered that when Kasekende got fired from BoU in 2002, no commercial bank suffered closure, till 2010 when the bespectacled economist bounced back.
Following his return as the deputy governor of BoU, three commercial banks faced closure, in six years which include Crane Bank, Global Trust Bank and National Bank of Commerce.
Family
Louis Austin Kasekende is married to Edith Kasekende, and together they are the parents of three children. He has two daughters and one son, George Kasekende.
