The police are investigating complaints by the chairperson of Parliament’s Committee on State Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase), Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, that he has received death threats in regard to ongoing investigation into Uganda Airlines.
Ssenyonyi, according to police, told them that the threats were issued on phone. Detectives have subsequently taken his statement. It remained unclear who might be behind the threat.
Speaking to the Media, the Nakawa West legislator revealed that he had received calls and messages from a “high ranking” government official.
Mr Ssenyonyi said he was instructed to “loosen” his energy while probing the Uganda Airlines boss.
“My duty is to inform them. When thieves attack you in the night, you call the police. Whether they come or not is another matter,” Mr Ssenyonyi said, adding, “Now I may not give so much including the name [of the said person] but it is threats generally [saying] we are going to mobilise and come for you, whether in office or committee.”
“Joel Ssenyonyi has recorded a statement at police. Currently, he is recording his statements on allegations of threatening violence ,” the deputy spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan area Luke Owoyesigire.
He added: “So he will provide us with the evidence and we shall look into the allegations and revert after the investigations are done.”
After the Auditor General’s report for the Financial Year 2020/2021, it emerged that the Uganda Airlines administration had a string of faults pegged on them. This informed the investigation that Cosase legislators undertook.
The committee commenced investigations into the matter on Tuesday, starting with an interface between Uganda Airlines leadership led by Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki, the CEO, and the Board of the national carrier.
During the three-day interface, the lawmakers tasked the board of Uganda Airlines to explain how Ms Bamuturaki was appointed chief executive. When the MPs failed to fetch a conclusive response from the Board, they asked Ms Bamuturaki to avail her curriculum vitae, job description and academic detail.
During the interaction with the committee, Ms Bamuturaki indicated that she has not yet collected her transcript for the award of the Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Works and Social Administration, a qualification she is said to have attained 28 years ago at the Makerere University.
The same committee also sought to establish why she secured a deed poll to alter her name from Bamuturaki Musiime Jenifer to Jenifer Arnold Lenkai and never adopted the second name but instead maintained the former.
As he adjourned proceedings of the committee on Thursday, Mr Ssenyonyi asked the CID unit at the Parliament to extract statements from Ms Bamuturaki and the director in-charge of maintenance, Mr Ephraim Bagenda for allegedly making contradictory statements.
The committee is scheduled to interface with officials from Uganda airlines, again, on Tuesday.
