Patron & Chairman, Board of Trustees
Rt. Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda
Physician, diplomat and former Prime Minister of Uganda — and the national figure who has lent his voice to recovery and alcohol-harm prevention for a decade.
His story with this cause
Long before “illicit alcohol” became a national headline, Dr. Rugunda was acting on the crisis. On 10 September 2016 — while serving as Prime Minister — he personally launched the first Uganda Recovery Walk in Kampala, giving thousands of recovering Ugandans something they had never had: a public, honoured place to walk.
A medical doctor by training, he understands addiction as the public-health emergency it is. As Patron and Chairman of ADAAM’s Board of Trustees, he chairs the movement’s governance and opens doors at the highest levels of government. In October 2025 he presided over the founding of the Coalition Against Illicit Alcohol — Uganda Chapter as its Chief Patron, calling illicit alcohol a national emergency and urging coordinated action into 2026 and beyond.
His conviction is simple and characteristically direct: regulation is not a matter of choice but of necessity — and government and civil society must walk hand in hand to protect Uganda’s people.
A life of service
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Prime Minister of Uganda
2014 – 2021
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Minister of Health
Government of Uganda
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Minister of Foreign Affairs
Government of Uganda
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Minister of Information & ICT
Government of Uganda
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Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations
New York
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Chief Patron, Coalition Against Illicit Alcohol — Uganda Chapter
2025 – present
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Patron & Chairman, Board of Trustees — ADAAM
Present
“There is consensus: toxic illicit spirits are a major public health and economic threat. Together we protect Ugandans.”
Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda · CAIA–Uganda consultation, December 2025