Govt appoints team to audit Uganda Airlines

The Ministry of Works and Transport has established a six-member team to investigate human resource irregularities in Uganda Airlines.

The Minister of Works and Transport, Gen Katumba Wamala, told legislators that the team is expected to complete the task by next month.

“I wrote to the Minister of Public Service and the executive director of the National Planning Authority requesting them to give me a technical team to conduct a manpower audit and evaluate the current capacity of the employees in Uganda Airlines,” Gen Katumba said.

The audit comes a week after lawmakers on the Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) established human resource challenges in Uganda Airlines.

The team is supposed to investigate whether Uganda Airlines’ current staff meet the minimum requirements as outlined in the human resource manual, the extent and effect of staffing gaps and also recommend a befitting salary structure for staff at various levels.

The team is also supposed to establish whether the current staff are steering the entity towards the realisation of the national carrier’s mission and vision and if the current staff structure meets the staffing requirements as stipulated by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA).

The audit is also meant to find out if the staff has the minimum requirements, including academic qualifications, for the positions that they hold, according to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

The team is also expected to highlight the unfilled positions in the entity, and identify challenges in the airlines in attracting and retaining competent staff.

They will, however, not affect the managers of the airline including the chief executive officer (CEO) of the airline, Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki.

When asked why Ms Bamuturaki was appointed even when she never applied for the job and also lacked some of the requisite academic papers for the role, Gen Katumba said he was directed by President Museveni to appoint her and advised the committee to speak to the head of State for his input.
“I did engage Jenifer on the issue of papers and I told her that you must submit those documents and she gave me assurance that she will submit,” Gen Katumba said.

The Cosase chairperson, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa West), said the only qualifications that Ms Bamuturaki submitted were her Senior Six papers.

For a person to occupy such a position, they have to have a Master’s degree in a business-related course.

On Tuesday, the leadership of the national carrier did not attend a meeting with Cosase, saying they were busy with other meetings and requested the interface to be rescheduled to September.
They also said they want the committee proceedings closed to the media.