Members of Parliament on the Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises – COSASE want the Uganda Airlines top management disbanded over fraudulent operations.
In August, the Committee commenced an investigation into the irregular operations of the Uganda National Airlines Company Limited – UNACL following an implicating report of the Auditor General for the Financial Year 2020/2021.
On Thursday, the Committee was shocked at the fresh details that the Airlines Chief Executive Officer – CEO, Jenifer Bamuturaki influenced the award of 3.48 Billion Shillings to Abbavater Group and not 2.097 billion Shillings as was earlier submitted by the Airlines officials on Wednesday.
The Abbavater Group was recommended by the CEO for advertising and promotions of the revived Uganda Airlines. Bamuturaki, by her own admission, harbored vested and concealed interest in Abbavater because it belonged to her close associate and Pastor, Mark Arnold Odeke, the Group’s CEO.
Without declaring a conflict of interest, the CEO protested the cancellation of the Abbavater Group Contract with Uganda Airlines after the Board recommended otherwise because of her close ties with the media agency that led to over-invoicing to defraud the Airlines.
The Committee Chairperson Joel Ssenyonyi tasked Bamuturaki to explain how she was part of a three-man Committee headed by Patrick Omony Okema then the interim Head of Procurement and Disposal Unit; Joseph Ssebowa (Manager Human Resources) of the Airlines that highly appraised Abbavater Group.
Ssenyonyi pointed out that as a result of the Committee’s doctored appraisal, backed by the Contracts Committee report, Bamuturaki used her influence to knock out rivals of Abbavater Group that included; Star Leo Advertising Agency, and WMC Africa Limited to market the Airlines but the CEO distanced herself from any responsibility.
But Ferigo Kambale, the Kasese Municipality discredited Bamuturaki’s denial and labeled the procurement of Abbavater Group services null and void. Kambale also wondered why Bumuturaki submitted the evaluation report without a disclaimer.
Roland Ndyomugyenyi Bish, the Rukiga County MP called for a forensic audit on the Airlines, noting that Bumuturaki and her team unlawfully identified the three companies yet they were not even prequalified, thus contravening the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act, 2003.
It has emerged that Bamuturaki, without the knowledge of the Company Secretary, Bisereko Kyomuhendo, unlawfully contracted the Independent Online Journalists Association-Uganda led by Andrew Irumba, a blogger and CEO of online publication, TheSpy Uganda up to a tune of 156 million Shillings to counter bad publicity against the Airlines.
Ssenyonyi produced a copy of the contract drafted by Bamuturaki and witnessed Bisereko, the Corporation Secretary but he (Bisereko) expressly said that he was seeing the document for the ‘first time’. Through the doctored contract, the Airlines’ Finance Department on the orders of the CEO flagged 117 million Shillings in an upfront payment.
The meeting became stormy after Ssenyonyi tasked Bamuturaki to respond with Yes or No whether she signed the contract with Irumba (TheSpy CEO) in December 2021 and backdated it to April the same year to pay 13 million Shillings monthly, then she said she was not prepared for the question.
By so doing, the CEO usurped the role of Shakila Rahim Lamar, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations Department at Uganda Airlines, and assigned Regina Tibasiima, the Acting Commercial Director to supervise the work of the bloggers.
It also emerged that Tibasiima, who has acted in the capacity for close to a year, possesses the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education – UACE as opposed to a degree, a requisite qualification for the position she is holding.
Tabasiima was later handed to the Criminal Intelligence Investigation Department – CIID attached to the Committee who accompanied her out of Parliament to her office to produce reports she had been making to Bamuturaki relating to her role in monitoring activities of TheSpy.
Don Mubiri, the Information and Technology Manager of the Airlines apologized to the Committee for his involvement in procuring a contractor to provide an Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR) software solution at a contract sum of US$ 1,066,910, about 4.063 million Shillings (VAT Exclusive).
Further, the Uganda Airlines’ IT Department also concluded the provision of the Integrated Passenger Service System at a contract sum US$ 1,234,441 about 4.701 billion (VAT Exclusive), and the Auditor General red flagged the transaction because it was not sanctioned by the Government through the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U).
COSASE has now concluded its inquiries into the operations of the Airlines a report of their findings and recommendations will be presented to the House for adoption on a date yet to be established.
Conversely, Uganda Airlines is the flag carrier and the company is a revival of the older Uganda Airlines which operated from 1977 until 2001. The current carrier, with six fleets, began flying in August 2019 with 12 destinations.
In the FY 2019/2020, the Airlines made a loss of 104 billion Shillings, and in the subsequent FY 2020/2021, the entity recorded another loss of 164 billion Shillings whereas, in the FY 2021/2022 that ended on June 30th, the report shows that it has made yet another record loss of 234 billion Shillings.
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