My name is John Mutyaba, born and raised in Nsambya, Kampala, Uganda, one of 9 siblings of Mr/s. Joyce and Raphael Kibunga Ssemakula. I have lived in the United States for 18 years and married to Susan with 3 children, Krista Najjuma, Joyce Mutyaba and John Jr. I attended Old Kampala Senior Secondary School from 1982 - 1987 and later Makerere University 1987-1991 having pursued 2 courses of study including information management and political science and public administration.

Experience: I hold a Masters in Business Administration, and I am a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) as well as a Certified Information Technology Auditor (CISA) and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA). I am currently employed as an IT Audit Project Manager at the Corporate Audit Services division of U.S. Bank, one of the top 6 banks in the United States. Prior to that, I worked as an IT Audit Manager in Insurance Regulation at the state of Minnesota for over 8 years. I am the Vice Chairman of the Chicago convention Organizing Committee, UNAA Board member Central for almost 2 years, Board member Pan African Community Organization (PACO) and President of Oak Park Town House Association.

I have actively participated in 8 conventions since my first one in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 1993 and have a vivid recollection of Chicago 1995, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis (where we pioneered online registration and had the fastest onsite registration with my help), New York, San Francisco and Orlando conventions.

To our board members and volunteers, I am extremely proud of your continued collective hard work (amid some disagreements), adept decision-making, dedication to our members and communities, and loyalty to UNAA. Our future is brighter because of your extraordinary efforts. So, I want to take this opportunity to thank all board members, including our ambassadors in the US, Canada, Europe and Uganda. We celebrated our shared successes and collective efforts at our 2008 Orlando convention last year, and I look forward to Chicago 2009 knowing that you are engaged and committed to maintaining and enhancing our position. YES WE CAN!

Recently, as I was being interviewed in a Ugandan Radio address via phone regarding the UNAA convention in Chicago this year, the moderator asked me about the usefulness of UNAA. I stopped for a moment and enumerated the points that I am committed to support when I am elected the Vice Chairman of our beloved organization;

1. I will promote UNITY and keep the commitment for UNAA to stay away from partisan politics thereby ensuring coherence among the members with very diverse backgrounds. As a 501 c tax-exempt non-profit organization, we’re required not to engage in political activity and I’ll reinforce that objective. However based on our goals, we will fairly provide forum for all interested politicians to discuss important matters affecting our members.
2. I will ensure that the Board engages in long term strategic planning sessions and periodically measure success of achieving the goals of UNAA. In addition, I will continue to promote democratic values in the organization by holding regular elections.
3. Engage UNAA members from the grass roots by coordinating and creating a network of local chapter ambassadors to ensure ideas from a majority of members are heard and acted upon. Regular meetings, blogs, internet based groups on www.unaanet.com will be utilized to keep the information flowing through out the Diaspora.
4. As Vice President I’ll ensure that we engage in programs that will provide ongoing income for the organization to provide support to the needy in hospitals, schools, AIDs patients and war torn areas by using our volunteer resources and opening the doors to a fully fledged fraternal organization using full time UNAA employees to help achieve our long term plans.
5. Together with the UNAA Board and the President of UNAA, I’ll ensure that we actively engage in helping the development of our motherland by providing Ugandan businesses access to Western Capital, Ugandan products access to Western markets and bridge the gap between investors and Uganda businesses and provide consultations to the parties involved.
6. During my tenure we will continue to be an advocate and a voice for all Ugandans in the Diaspora. As you may very well know, Ugandans working abroad provide billions of dollars to the Ugandan economy each year. In return we would like to channel our interests to the decision makers on matters that impact us. For example if there is a land bill in Uganda we want our voice to be heard since many of the Ugandans in the Diaspora own real property in Uganda; most of us have been naturalized and are now Citizens of other nations, should we be penalized $50 and have to request for VISA to go to our motherland; to name but a few.
7. I will ensure that we promote youth programs that help our youth to network and develop the cultural and social values that we espoused during our up bringing in Uganda. We shall work to stimulate and encourage nationwide acquaintance and fellowship among our youth and all members of UNAA wherever they may be. In this regard, I have taken advantage of the technology developments and setup a social networking facebook group named UNAA. This is in addition to the already existing yahoo groups named UNAANET started by Dr. Frank Matovu.

Where do we want UNAA to be in the next 10 years and how do we keep UNAA more relevant? “A vision without a task is but a dream. A task without a vision is but drudgery; but a vision and a task are the hope of the world.” UNKNOWN.

And that’s where I come in - I am committed to a road map that will enhance UNAA’s position and relevancy to our members and communities. I am knowledgeable about business management, good organizational practices and the legal environment in which we operate and I am committed to shearing that knowledge to help UNAA avoid waste of the nature we’ve seen recently when we were sued by other organizations for failure, in 2005 by the Board that granted the convention to UNAA San Francisco, to keep proper documentation and execute legal contracts. I’ll ensure unity, promote income generating activities, promote Ugandan business access to western capital, support development initiatives in Uganda, promote AIDS awareness and channel our interests to the decision makers. My experiences and business acumen provide me with a good background to serve you in this capacity.

You see, as board member I have worked tirelessly to improve UNAA board management. I was part of the group that drafted the UNAA board code of conduct; I am currently the chairman of the audit committee charged with a duty of ensuring transparency and financial accountability of our organization and recently audited the financial statements on a pro bono basis. As a representative of Mid West I convinced the board by using tact and social skills to bring the convention back to Chicago even though I would have preferred to go to Washington D.C for the 2009 convention. As Vice Chairman of the Chicago convention, together with the Chairman and the Convention Organizing Committee, I am working day and night to bring you one of the most memorable conventions of your time.

I am ready to put my experience to your service and I am sure together we can – YES WE CAN!!

I hope that you share my vision and after reading my manifesto you’ll give me the mandate. For God and our Country.

Vote for John Mutyaba UNAA Vice President Candidate.

I also endorse Lt. Frank Musisi for UNAA President and William Senkumba for UNAA General Secretary.