UNBS Manager Attains International Appointment

Just weeks after impressively hosting an international Standards Conference, UNBS has scored highly again at the global level. The UNBS Deputy Executive Director in charge of Technical Operations Dr, Ben Manyindo, was recently elected the Vice Chair person for the Codex Alimentarius Commission during the commission’s 31st Session held from 30th June to 4th July 2008 in Geneva.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the international body responsible for elaborating the Joint FAO/WHO worldwide food standards. The Commission was established in 1963 to address issues of food safety and fair trade practices on a worldwide scale and has a membership of 175 countries including Uganda. The Codex Executive Committee is mandated world-wide to oversee the development, implementation and monitoring of projects for the elaboration of standards to facilitate international trade in foods and related products. The election of a Ugandan, one of the very few Africans to have served in such an important and high profile position, is an honor to the country, a measure of confidence and recognition by the world community of the tremendous contribution UNBS has made on the regional and international scene in the formulation of international standards for food and agricultural products. It should be recalled that Uganda through UNBS has twice been the Codex Alimentarius Regional Coordinator for Africa 1999-2001 and 2001-2003 and successfully hosted the 14th and 15th Sessions of the Codex Coordinating Committee for Africa in 2000 and 2002 respectively. In addition Uganda was an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee of the Commission (1999-2003).

Dr. Manyindo has been involved in a number of Codex related activities and has attained such experience that has propelled him to that position. Uganda being a predominantly agricultural reliant economy will by all means benefit in shaping policy in the world food standards during the period it holds the vice-chairmanship. The election of one of its managers to this post is testimony to the high regard to which UNBS is held internationally, together with its institutional capacity to organize, lobby and strategically position itself for international recognition. This success on the international stage is a continuation of the internal achievements by its enlightened and charismatic management team which has successfully lobbied government to steadily increase its funding from a level of 1.5 bn to 7.8 bn in a space of 4 years, including 2.5 bn recently allocated for the first phase for the construction of its headquarters.