By Mulengera Reporters
In his June 2022 written communication, President Museveni was full of praises for his then blue-eyed girl Jeniffer Bamuturaki. In that letter, the President directed the Works Ministry to have Bamuturaki appointed CEO for Uganda Airlines Company without competition.
The President was grateful for the whistle blowing role Bamuturaki had previously played helping him understand what had gone wrong at the newly revamped national airliner (as of that time Bamuturaki was serving as the Director Commercial Services under CEO Cornwell Muleya who was a Zambian expatriate). Secondly, the President felt obliged to deploy Bamuturaki because of who her father was.
Bamuturaki Senior, her dad, had been one of the opposition MPs who vigorously stood up to the Milton Obote dictatorship of the early 1980s and paid a price for it, with his own life. He was assassinated and his killing greatly helped in publicizing the struggle against the UPC and Obote II administration.
The President, whose recommendation was complied with by the Board and the leadership at the line Ministry of Works & Transport, did indicate his wish to have the job advertised and openly competed for after Bamuturaki’s first 3-year contract period expired on 17th July 2025. That was the deal and, indeed, Bamuturaki’s time ran out on 17th July this very year.
Her supporters expected that the President was going to be as magnanimous as he was on the first contract. Instead, the man from Rwakitura minded his business and remained ambivalent without exhibiting any extension enthusiasm as was the case on the first occasion.
This ambivalence left the Works Ministry and Board members confused. It was decided to enact an administrative arrangement resulting into Bamuturaki being given a three-months contract extension. This was meant to enable the line Minister of Works & Transport time to look for the President and get his guidance.
When he eventually got the opportunity to pronounce himself, Gen Museveni rejected the idea of automatic extension of Bamuturaki’s contract for another three years and instead acquiesced to an extension of just one year (July 2025-July 2026). Bamuturaki had written to him expressing interest to get another three years, ostensibly to consolidate what she enumerated to have been her achievements of the preceding three years.
Knowledgeable sources say that the President’s expectations haven’t been met and there is growing realization that Bamuturaki wasn’t the best person for the CEO job, in the first place.
The veteran leader from Rwakitura has been getting reports on several things which have been going wrong at Uganda Airlines company since July 2022, including the top management’s failure to prevent prohibited liquor from repeatedly being carried into Uganda-friendly countries into which it would ordinarily not be permitted, including Somalia. This is something the Airline supervisors at Port Bell Road have had to explain themselves about. And there has been a lot of blame game between Port Bell and the Airline management about this issue.
Bamturaki’s failure to be an effective team player and inspire cohesion among members of her top management team (aka exco) is another thing which has gradually dispirited the President. He gets repeated reports about lack of harmony among top decision-makers at the Airline.
And it’s ironical that among the 10 members of exco, not even 5 are supportive of Bamuturaki. Actually, majority of them don’t see eye to eye with her. Failure to have rapport and work well with Governing Board members has also weakened, as opposed to strengthening, Jeniffer Bamuturaki infront of the key Museveni handlers at State House and also key decision makers at the Cabinet Secretariat. This has repeatedly portrayed the embattled CEO as volatile, unhinged and incapable of delivering the desired outcomes.
The circumstances under which the fuel supply deal was removed from a Dubai-based company called Mixjet also intrigued many including Museveni’s key handlers at State House. The arbitrariness with which this contract termination was done greatly shamed and disreputed Uganda Airlines as a public company.
Then recently a special audit report, authored by the Auditor General who the Board called in with full acquiescence of the CEO, broke the camel’s back when it reached the President. The report unearthed shocking findings pointing to leadership weaknesses and wilful failure to adhere to basic corporate governance practices.
A total of more than $5m (roughly Shs18bn) was established to be missing and unaccounted for. The same report also flagged chaos in the way fuel management is being handled at Uganda Airlines. As Shadow Works & Transport Minister Francis Mwijukye recently hinted during a COSASE session, there are also concerns about the colossal sums of money being expended by the Airline company to acquire non-priority consultancy services.
There are also concerns regarding the growing influence of foreign expatriates in the making of top decisions at the company. At the ongoing inquisitive sessions at Parliament, some COSASE members want the Board and Bamuturaki to explain what made the recruitment of a Nigerian called Adedeyo Olawig to serve as Chief Commercial Officer for Uganda Airline necessary as if a competent Ugandan couldn’t be found.
Adedeyo is the man heading the Airlines’ commercial office located at PPPA/Road Fund Tower in Kampala. Some MPs are uncomfortable with the fact that the much-pampered Adedeyo expensively resides in Kololo and yet on top of that, the company pays him $25,000 (roughly Shs90m) as monthly salary, which is his take home after all the statutory declarations have been made. Some MPs also claim to have received reports of some Uganda Airlines top officials going on property-acquisition spree in luxurious neighbourhoods like Lubowa along Entebbe Road. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
