A 50 page report by the Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) Committee  has recommended that errant managers of the Uganda Airlines ought to be punished over mismanagement of the national carrier.

The committee, chaired by Nakawa West MP Joel Ssenyonyi recently carried out a probe into mismanagement of the Uganda Airlines.

In its  report COSASE says the airline management failed to take stock of inventories which comprised of engineering stores( expendable parts) and general stores, noting that there is no evidence to show management tried to get the actual value of inventories.

“A review of stores and discussion with the management revealed that there were no stores ledgers for engineering stores. Although the general stores had manual ledgers, the ledgers were not capturing Goods Received Note reference numbers (GRN) against the receipts in the ledgers as a reference of the goods received. This implies limited audit trail of items received in stores and issued out,” the 50 page report seen by the Nile Post says.

The MPs found out that the airline carried out procurements without the approval of the contracts committee which they say was against the law since it sidesteps transparency of the procurement process.

“Failure to obtain contract committee approval is unacceptable as  it negatively affects the transparency of the procurement process and could result in procurement of items in a manner that is uneconomical. It is contrary to Regulation 12(2) of the PPDA (Rules and Methods for Procurement of Supplies, Works and non-consultancy services) Regulations, 2014,” the MPs said.

They recommended that the accounting officer ought to be punished for violating section 26(2) of the PPDA Act by signing a contract without approval of the contracts committee.

Salaries

The committee also found out that the airline didn’t have a board approve staff structure and establishment to assess staff recruitment needs and staffing status and as well didn’t have approved salary grades which saw some staff earn very high salaries while others earn very low salaries.

“There were disparities in salaries of staff holding the same positions for example; director maintenance earns shs80 million, director flight operations shs40 million, director commercial, shs40 million, some cabin crew earned shs4 million while others shs2 million. There was no justification for the differences in these amounts.”

This, the MPs say affecting proper planning and budgeting for staff costs and consequently the national carrier incurred an excess expenditure.

The MPs also found out that some staff lacked the prerequisite academic documents to hold the positions they currently hold at the airline.

“For cxample, Ms. Regina Tebasiima, the acting Commercial Director had only  an A level certificate as her highest qualification. The CEO - Ms. Jennifer Bamuturaki does not possess the required academic qualifications stipulated in the human resource manual. The requirement for the CEO is a Bachelor’s Degree, and a Post Graduate Diploma/ Masters. She only possesses a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work and Social Administration,” the Ssenyonyi led committee found out.

The committee specifically indicated that there was undue influence and medaling by the shareholders in the recruitment process of the CEO without regard to the powers of the board as enshrined in the Companies Act.

The committee says that whereas the airline CEO Jennifer Bamuturaki requested and was facilitated with shs50 million to travel to different destination where the airline has stations, she only travelled to only two but never refunded the rest of the funds.

“It is criminal for a public official to receive funds for a certain activity and the activity doesn't happen, and the funds don’t get refunded.  Ms  Jennifer Bamuturaki  should be held personally liable for this offence and immediately refund the unaccounted for funds,” the committee recommends.

COSASE also faulted the airline and some of its officials over the manner in which Abbavater  Group Ltd was contracted to do public relations for the airline.

They say the airline again irregularly and selectively handpicked three advertising firms including Abbavater Group Ltd, Star Leo and WMC Africa without pre-qualification and competitive bidding process and consequently awarded the contract to Abbavater which had  the highest quotation.

“The committee found evidence of a contact between Abbavater and another company where Ms Bamuturaki signed as a witness on behalf of Abbavater ltd. She admitted this fact before the committee. On 6th March 2019, Ms Bamuturaki swore a deed poll changing her name from Jennifer Bamuturaki Musiime to Jennifer Arnold Lenkai, adopting thc name of the CEO Abbavater Ltd Mark Odeke Amold Lenkai.”

The MPs say there was clear conflict of interest and influence peddling from Bamuturaki to ensure Abbavater got the contract with the airline.

They say, all the airline officials involved in the procurement of Abbavater should be held liable but specifically say the CEO, Bamuturaki ought to be punished for influence peddling, conflict of interest and participating in a procurement process without disclosing her personal interest or relationship with the proprietor of Abbavater.

Hiring online bloggers

COSASE faulted the airline for hiring online bloggers  at a cost of shs13 million per month to market the airline  in a dubious manager since management had never discussed such a thing.

The online bloggers were hired outside procurement guidelines envisaged under the PPDA Act. It was a unilateral decision by the CEO to hire them, no-wonder they  focused more on lighting personal battles for the CEO, including disparaging Parliament,” the MPs said.

The report indicates avers that the responsibility of marketing the airline is the mandate of the public relations manager but this time she was kept in the dark of what was happening and never knew anything about the contract with online bloggers led by Andrew Irumba.

“Ms Jennifer Bamuturaki should be held responsible for the irregular contract and she should refund the shs156 million that was spent on these online bloggers.”

The MPs advised that the airline has the potential to thrive as a sound business, only if issues of financial impropriety, disregard of the law, and staffing are dealt with robustly.

“The committee established reasonable grounds to conclude that Uganda Airline's management is bedeviled with governance challenges in its operations. This is evidenced by the glaring disregard for the law, lack of transparency and inefficiency.”