The Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication has announced a new Board of Directors for Uganda Airlines to replace the one that was suspended in May last year on the orders of President Museveni.
Reports quoting a source from the Ministry of Works say that the new Board is headed by Ms Priscilla Mirembe Serukka, the Managing Director of Kairos Consult.
Others are Mr Ebrahim Kisoro Sadrudin, a retired pilot; Mr Herbert Kamuntu, managing director of Kachain Logistics; Mr Abdi Karim Moding, a senior field engineer, who is also the country representative of SITA, a multinational information technology company that provides information technology and telecommunication services to the air industry and; Ms Barbara Mirembe Namugambe.
Uganda Airlines got a new board of directors after President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni recently kicked out the old board over corruption and embezzlement scandals.
The old board was kicked out on accusations of extorting money from job applicants, bungling procurement contracts, recruiting relatives, friends and church members across the networks, maintaining ghost workers on the airlines’ payroll, and giving jobs to unqualified pilots at the expense of the safety of passengers.
On top of the above, a recent report compiled by the State House investigations team on orders of President Museveni revealed that the board members connived in another couple of acts that risked the re-collapse of the airline and these include;
1. The board’s involvement in recruitment leading to corruption.
2. Collusion with management in the recruitment of relatives and friends.
3. Flawed procurement and contracts mismanagement.
4. Poor risk analysis, management, implementation and follow-up
5. The board’s involvement in the day to day operations- micromanagement of the Airline
6. Certification of Aircraft –inability to supervise the process as the board.
7. Ground handling wastage by the board
8. Aircraft maintenance organisation.
9. The board approval of high costs/ expenses without due diligence due to self-interest.
10. The board‘s lack of a performance scorecard for the Senior Management team.
11. The board’s lack of functional and active committees.
12. Ignoring security vetting.
13. Retaining pilots that failed simulator training.
14. Reports of bribery solicitation among others.