Former Sports CS Amina Mohamed installed as Chancellor of International University of East Africa, Uganda

Amina Mohamed was installed as the second Chancellor of the International University of East Africa on February 16, 2023 in Kampala, Uganda. [Courtesy of IUEA]

Former Sports Cabinet Secretary (CS) Amina Mohamed is the new Chancellor of the International University of East Africa in Uganda.

Mohamed was installed as the university's second Chancellor on Wednesday, February 16 in Uganda's capital Kampala.

She succeeds the inaugural chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Mutebile, who died on January 23, 2022.

Speaking during her installation, Mohamed said she'll be the number one ambassador of the International University of East Africa.

"For the continent to help deal with its problems, it is universities to help teach young men and women who can solve real world problems," she said.

"Our education practices cannot remain in the 1960s while the world has moved on and now we are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution. This is what I want to do here: to make sure IUEA is the university of choice," added Mohamed.

The former minister pledged to prioritise practical and life skills in the university's curriculum.

Dr. Emeka Akaezuwa, the Vice-Chancellor of the International University of East Africa, said Mohamed's international relations and diplomacy expertise will come in handy.

"We are a university where we encourage skills and people to have a vision of contributing to science, business, education and prosperity of the continent by encouraging and empowering our students to think big," he said.

The International University of East Africa is a private institution in Uganda founded in 2010. It first admitted students in July 2011.

CS in various ministries

Amina Mohamed served as the Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) between April 2013 and January 2018 during President Uhuru Kenyatta's tenure.

She was, thereafter, moved to the Ministry of Education, where she served for slightly more than one year, between January 2018 and March 1, 2019.

After her brief stay at the Education ministry, President Kenyatta transferred Mohamed to the Sports docket, where she remained until the end of Kenyatta's term on September 13, 2022.

The 61-year-old is a career diplomat, who has held a top position at the United Nations, where she was the Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UNEP.

Mohamed holds a Master of Laws Degree in International Law from Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, Ukraine.
She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

She is a mother of two biological children and four adopted children.