By Aggrey BabaThe controversy stems from a letter the President wrote on June 25, 2025, to Works and Transport Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, ordering the immediate dismissal of 152 UCAA staff allegedly recruited using forged academic papers. Museveni, in the letter, cited widespread corruption and inefficiency at the authority, warning that such practices were unacceptable.
“I have received information that there is massive corruption in the UCAA… including recruiting unqualified people. One glaring, embarrassing problem was when Maama Maria Nyerere got trapped in an archaic lift for four minutes. An investigation was carried out and 152 unqualified staff were identified. All these must be sacked, and so should those who recruited them,” the President directed.
The letter was copied to top government officials, including Vice President Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Education Minister Janet Museveni, and State Minister for Transport Fred Byamukama.
But as the directive began taking shape within the Works Ministry, UCAA officials have responded, saying the actual number of affected staff is significantly lower.
According to a national news publication, UCAA Director General Fred Bamwesigye confirmed receipt of the directive but clarified that only 82 staff members had been flagged during an internal certificate validation exercise initiated last year. Bamwesigye said UCAA had already launched a verification campaign targeting all staff from as far back as the authority’s inception in 1991.
“We discovered 82 people with questionable credentials. Some had good O’level certificates but tampered A’level documents. Most of them were in lower-level aviation offices, not senior posts,” he said.
He also explained that in the aviation sector, on-the-job training often overrides academic qualifications, which sometimes leads to less emphasis on formal papers at the recruitment stage.
“We had not been verifying academic documents with training institutions because aviation skills are mostly acquired through experience. But when we started this exercise, we realized it was necessary,” he added.
Bamwesigye further revealed that some of the implicated staff had been working in government long before UCAA was even established and were simply absorbed into the new entity. Others had genuine qualifications at entry but later added questionable documents during their career progression.
To handle the matter fairly, UCAA constituted a disciplinary committee to give the affected individuals a chance to defend themselves, a process, he said, concluded just last week.
The timing of the whistleblower report that triggered Museveni’s directive also raised eyebrows within UCAA, with Bamwesigye suggesting that internal job wrangles and former employees targeting current management could have played a role in exaggerating the figures.
“There have always been people fighting for positions internally. Some of those who left are trying to frustrate our leadership,” he said.
He warned that abrupt mass sackings, especially in a sensitive and highly regulated sector like aviation, could disrupt service and violate compliance standards.
“This industry audits the actual capacity of staff to perform specific duties. Many of those affected had the skills, even if their papers had issues. We must handle this matter carefully to avoid breaching international aviation standards,” he noted.
Still, Bamwesigye admitted that the entire episode had been damaging to UCAA’s image, but emphasized that the authority is committed to cleaning the house.
“We have always been sensitive to bad publicity. This exercise was necessary to protect the integrity of our operations and the country’s aviation reputation,” he’s reported to have said.
As investigations continue, it remains unclear whether President Museveni will adjust his directive in light of the new information, or whether a second audit might be ordered to reconcile the figures.
For now, all eyes remain on the Ministry of Works and UCAA’s disciplinary processes. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
