More facts are progressively coming to light supporting the allegations that not all is well at the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) head office in Entebbe. Going by some letters received from individuals clearly opposed to what is being done to Ugandan airlines and for the benefit of readers copied here, Kajjansi-based light aircraft operators are now challenging the legality of the UCAA action and raising the spectrum of compensation for the financial damages inflicted on them.
It appears from the correspondence at hand that the UCAA has not responded in a timely and expeditious manner to at least one of the letters written by Ndege Juu, a light aircraft operator based at Kajjansi, fueling the wildfire of rumors and allegations that indeed the regulators are at a loss to comprehend the issues raised and are desperately struggling to find answers which will not expose them to further claims of having acted outside the scope of the regulations in place at the time. Questions are also being asked if there is a hidden agenda at work against in particular the owners of Air Uganda, if vested interests are at work in parallel to push the agenda of a revival of Uganda Airlines and if so who the main beneficiaries of such a white elephant might be, more so as it has been confirmed on television that the regulators have sent an opinion paper to government.
“I hope to get answers, many hope to get answers. When did the CAA send in that document to government. What is written in that document. Was Air Uganda crippled to make way for a scheme to revive Uganda Airlines? What message does that send to potential investors. There are too many questions they dodge to give answers. Where is the political oversight. Why has the CAA board of directors not come out in the open to explain what oversight they are carrying out or if they have abandoned the industry? Why has ICAO not given a public statement of what really transpired in their audit. What deals were made with foreign airlines to take over Air Uganda’s passengers and who chose those particular operators,” asked two regular commentators in regard to the events over the past 5 weeks and more recent developments over the past two days – answers of course which cannot be given by this correspondent but which are fair to be asked nevertheless and deserve a full factual response.
Kajjansi-based operators lost the opportunity to carry out existing contracts and bid for new business worth millions of US dollars in potential revenues, and it has been established that air operators from neighboring countries are scooping up such contracts as local Ugandan light aircraft operators are unable to fly beyond the borders of the country.
One of the aviators regularly interacted with has also confirmed that the UCAA has at no stage answered to the question why they quoted regulations in their letter to Air Uganda which were not valid at the time as the statutory instrument and gazette notice was only made effective on July 11, weeks after relying on those not yet valid regulations when pulling Air Uganda’s Air Operators Certificate (AOC).
SUPPLEMENT No. 23 11th July, 2014
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS SUPPLEMENT
to The Uganda Gazette No. 40 Volume CVII dated 11th July, 2014
Printed by UPPC, Entebbe, by Order of the Government.
S T A T U T O R Y I N S T R U M E N T S
2014 No. 76.
THE CIVIL AVIATION (AIR OPERATOR CERTIFICATION AND
ADMINISTRATION) REGULATIONS, 2014
Two sources very close to the UCAA have also, off the record, confirmed that there are now growing doubts in the corridors of the regulators if the action they took was indeed the right thing to do and if other options could and should have been pursued. Fears have also crept into the offices of top managers about the prospect of compensation claims, not only directed against the authority itself but against those individuals seen as masterminds behind triggering the aviation crisis in Uganda.
