The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) is finalizing plans to dismiss 82 employees after internal investigations confirmed they were recruited using forged academic qualifications.
The move comes as part of a sweeping anti-corruption directive issued by President Yoweri Museveni in late June, targeting inefficiency and malpractice within the country’s aviation oversight body.
The President’s June 25 letter to the Ministry of Works and Transport outlined the scale of the problem, pointing to 152 staff members flagged during investigations as lacking proper qualifications.
The directive called not only for the dismissal of unqualified staff but also for accountability from those who oversaw their hiring.
Following that order, UCAA conducted a document verification exercise, reviewing more than 2,600 academic records submitted by staff.
The review confirmed 82 cases of outright forgery, prompting disciplinary action and plans for termination. Most of the implicated individuals have already undergone internal hearings, paving the way for their formal exit from the Authority.
UCAA, in a report submitted to the line ministry, stated that the probe was initiated internally after suspicions arose within the support staff ranks.
While acknowledging the gravity of the issue, the Authority maintained that the process is being handled with procedural fairness, guided by human resource policies.
However, the situation has grown more complex due to fresh allegations from a whistleblower. The report alleges that a significant portion of the implicated staff were hired during Fred Bamwesigye Kanyangoga’s tenure as Director of Human Resource and Administration a role he held before ascending to his current position as Director General of UCAA.
The whistleblower’s dossier goes further, casting doubt on Bamwesigye’s own academic history. It points to inconsistencies in his date of birth and early education records, raising concerns about potential manipulation to bypass age limits for certain roles.
The claims echo previous concerns flagged by international aviation authorities as far back as 2011.
UCAA has refuted the allegations, calling them baseless and recycled.
It has pointed to prior investigations by the Inspectorate of Government and the courts, including a 2021 civil suit, which it says cleared Bamwesigye of any wrongdoing. Discrepancies in his records, the Authority claims, were clerical errors from early schooling that were later corrected.
