UCAA defends its director general over allegations of age tampering

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has defended its director general, Fred Bamwesigye against allegations that he tampered with his age.

This follows a dossier from a whistleblower to the IGG calling for investigation into claiming that Bamwesigye was not forthright about his age. The whistleblower, Pasacal Osinde a former employee of UCAA, claimed Bamwesigye had altered his age to suit the requirement for the top job.

In a statement, UCAA said the allegations are baseless and unfounded.

"In April 2021, a recycled anonymous whistleblower report was again sent to the Inspectorate of Government over the same claims, and in a media interview, the then Ag. IGG, noted that the claims were first presented to the IGG in 2017, comprehensively investigated and found to be untrue. The matter was recycled four times and sent to the same office with the same content. The matter has also been to court through civil suit no. 110 of 2021, and Court resolved the matter through a ruling that exonerated Mr. Bamwesigye on April 9, 2021," the statement notes.

UCAA however acknowledged that Bamwesigye "erroneously recorded conflicting dates in his early school days, which was carried on in the first years of employment" a record he later corrected.

"The records being discussed on social media are from a passport that was obtained sometime back before confirmation of the exact date of birth. In their investigations, the Inspectorate of Government noted as much, and so did court, before making a ruling on the matter. While previously, the whistleblower has been anonymous, he has since revealed himself as Mr. Pascal Jabbe Osinde, a former employee of UCAA whose services were terminated on account of a court order," the authority noted.