By Mulengera Reporters
As early as February, members of Uganda Airlines Governing Board began preparing for life after controversial CEO Jennifer Bamuturaki.
They even voted for money (Shs56m) to have in place a HR consultancy firm that would support the professional recruitment of the next CEO through a competitive process. Her three years, which had began in July 2022, were soon ending and there was need to avoid a vacuum.
Because their own tenure was ending in April, Bamuturaki wasn’t bothered about the Board members even though her relationship with them hadn’t been that good. She knew they would ease out and leave her behind with three months to go.
She was doubtful that the Uganda Airlines Board (comprising of Chairperson Priscila Sseruka, Herbert Kamuntu, Abdul Karim Omoding, Eng Samuel Rwahwire, Barbra Namugambe, Patrick Ochailap & Capt Ebrahim Kisoro, ably supported by Company Secretary Suzan Batuuka) would ever allow her have any extension. She had opted to wait them out and initially never bothered to even write to them to express interest in renewal.
As Bamuturaki (a devout Christian who respects her Kampala and Kyenjojjo-based prophets a lot) prayed hard and worked towards waiting out the Board, the Ministers of Finance & Works/Transport (who are the company shareholders) opted to extend the Board’s mandate by another 3 months to avoid a vacuum. This meant they would be leaving at the end of July, just like Bamuturaki herself.
Originally members were unanimously opposed to her getting automatic contract renewal. They preferred open advertizing of the job and their reasons were chiefly that the President’s June 2022 letter, which made Bamuturaki the substantive CEO, clearly indicated that after three years, the job would have to be advertised to benefit from benefits that come with open competition.
Board members were emboldened by that letter of the President and were determined to advertise globally and this naturally would have diminished Bamuturaki’s chances. The other reason for reservations was that Bamuturaki’s performance in the preceding three years had been lukewarm and characterized by paranoia and conflicts with fellow managers at the Airline.
There were also concerns about fuel-related queries which saw the Airline mismanage the relationship with the main supplier; resulting into the arbitrary termination of Dubai-based Mixjet, which protested by dragging the Airline to court for breach of contract. They demanded $5m (nearly Shs18bn) in damages and compensation.
As the court battles raged, some managers accepted suggestions to enter an out of court settlement or negotiations which resulted into the interest Mixjet was demanding being mutually agreed to be settled at $2.5m. This in the end became controversial and the Board ended up being dragged to the IGG for failing to prevail on management regarding this controversial settlement.
The IGG inquiry made some of the Board members uncomfortable to the point of demanding for a written explanation from Company Secretary Suzan Batuuka who is among those Bamuturaki is supposed to supervise as CEO.
There were also concerns about the uneasiness with which Bamuturaki was relating with fellow managers such as Suzan Batuuka and Monica Rubombora plus CFO Allan Kyeyune. Bamuturaki initially was a close ally with Batuuka but the two controversially fell out when the CS began advising and guiding the Board on legal matters in ways that Bamuturaki considered to be treacherous. She began perceiving her as someone who had switched sides and ceased to be her ally in both top management and the Board!
Monica Rubombora, whose brother-in-law Capt. Tonny Rubombora owns and operates Eagle Air and is the landlord for the building housing the Airlines’ head offices in Entebbe, was originally very close to Bamuturaki but the CEO became uncomfortable and uneasy towards her when some Board members began praising and recognizing the good professional job she was doing as Station Manager for South Africa to whose Johannesburg airport, Uganda Airlines flies regularly.
In fact, it was on the account of her experience, professionalism and high performance that Monica Rubombora was later on chosen to pioneer the London office in the capacity of care taker manager. She has done a very good job there; making very good ticket sales (especially among Zambians & Zimbabweans). Yet the relationship between her and Bamuturaki had began developing cracks and in the process slowing down the overall Airline business performance.
As for Allan Kyeyune, the CEO became uneasy towards him because he too came from UNOC just like Batuuka who was now being considered to be a very complicated person. Batuuka had now become the yard stick or the standard bearer in relation to whom all managers, previously at UNOC, had to be measured.
This lack of warm relations with fellow managers, some of whom are members of exco, had somehow diminished Bamuturaki’s suitability for retention in the eyes of some of the Board members.
Some Board members were resentful of Bamuturaki because she had initially not bothered to express interest for contract renewal yet the Company’s HR manual and prudent practice required one doing this latest two months to the end of the current/running contract. Some Board members were concerned that other power centers were being lobbied to support renewal yet the CEO hadn’t found it necessary to formally write to them.
In the end, the matter of Bamuturaki’s retention became so controversial and divisive that the Board Chairperson Sseruka had to put it to a vote. Gradually, hostility towards her had reduced and in the end it was only Capt. Ebrahim Kisoro who remained standing and saying no to Bamuturaki.
He is an experienced aviation person with experience of working with Etihad, Singapore Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and had been an aviator in many countries of the world in his 45 years of active work before ceasing to fly planes upon clocking 65 years.
He had worked in the defunct Uganda Airlines of the past and had almost clocked 25,000 hours of flying. He had also been an instructor at Soroti Flying School in his hey days. Vastly respected by his own peers, Kisoro at one time served as the President of Uganda Pilots Association. All these attributes combined to make him very contemptuous of Bamuturaki.
In Board meetings, he always criticized the CEO as being very good at talking the marketing language but very thin on aviation matters and when required to actually get things done. So as of March 2025, Capt. Kisoro was satisfied that Bamuturaki wasn’t the best person to steer the Airline.
Having distinguished himself as one in whom aggrieved staff would confide their job security and welfare-related grievances, Kisoro remained uncompromising in saying no to Bamuturaki.
He was so belligerent towards the CEO to the extent that even when all Board members eventually cracked and came together and voted to give Bamuturaki another three months (which was later enlarged to one year ending next July), Capt. Kisoro remained the only one saying no.
Insisting to go on record in the Board minutes, the unrepentant Capt. Kisoro was outvoted and Bamuturaki got another three months which were eventually enlarged to one year in close consultation with the President.
In the end, Capt. Kisoro paid the ultimate price even when finally, Cabinet accepted Gen Katumba Wamala’s proposal to extend Board members’ mandate by another three years. This new contract of three years applied to everyone else apart from Capt. Kisoro. He was the only one dropped and he has since been replaced with someone from ICPAU and with no much aviation background.
On establishing that he was a problem to the CEO, Bamuturaki’s supporters in Cabinet engaged in a campaign to demonize Kisoro and make his retention in the Board undesirable. And that is how he was eventually overcome and forced out of the Airlines as the under fire Bamuturaki counts down to July next year when she will be expected to quit and thereby bringing her era at Uganda Airlines to an end.
That notwithstanding, there is a clique of powerful actors in Kampala who are determined to make sure that there is new leadership at Uganda Airlines before next July. These jubilated most recently when Gen MK, the CDF, posted on his X signalling readiness to investigate and clean up the top leadership inefficacies and corruption deals at Uganda Airlines.
Such people are also now making reference to the rot that was recently unearthed in the special audit that was done by the Auditor General, and which Chimp Reports has been serializing, as justification for the need to have heads roll at Uganda Airlines urgently. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
