By Frank Kamuntu
Legislators on the Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) have questioned the competence of staff hired by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA). This comes after the Auditor General’s report revealed that some staff were hired without minimum qualifications and no interviews were conducted during their recruitment.
The December 2023 Auditor General’s report highlighted that UCAA recruited 136 staff on contract and permanent bases with a monthly remuneration totalling UGX 254,579,391. However, there was no evidence of interview assessments conducted, and staff files lacked documentation of decisions regarding their competences and qualifications.
Medard Sseggona, the Busiro East Constituency MP while presenting the audit findings, stated that 79 employees were appointed to various positions without meeting the minimum qualifications. Furthermore, the Authority had not confirmed nor terminated nine employees who had served beyond the mandatory probation period of 12 months.
Jennifer Etit, Manager of Human Resources, responded, “We keep our records in both physical and digital formats. We later retrieved them from the system and printed them; these are the records we have provided.”
However, Charles Bakabunlindi, the Workers’ Representative pointed out discrepancies between the verbal submission by Etit and the written response from the Authority. The written submission claimed that the staff mentioned were typically upgraded from internships, casual engagements, and contracts that did not require interviews, asserting that their job competence had already been proven.
The Authority’s written submission also mentioned that while qualifications are a mandatory check and usually match the competences, some staff members are reluctant to attain the minimum qualifications despite encouragement. The labour laws do not allow for their demotion.
Bakabunlindi questioned if it had become standard practice for UCAA to hire staff without conducting interviews or requiring requisite qualifications at the time of recruitment. “When you say there are certain standards that you follow, but here you say some were casual, some were not, others you encourage to achieve what you want and they are reluctant. That means from the start, the recruitment has no basis,” he remarked.
During the meeting, MPs also expressed concerns about the CAA’s practice of maintaining seconded staff from other government bodies on the Authority’s payroll, despite the law prohibiting individuals from appearing on more than one payroll in Uganda.
This issue was highlighted in the December 2023 Auditor General’s report, which noted unverified staff on the Authority’s payroll. Fred Bamwesigye, Director General of CAA, explained that some staff are recruited on secondment from other government agencies like the police to provide specialized skills, and they are included on the Authority’s payroll.
Bukimbiri County MP Eddie Kwizera questioned the inclusion of seconded individuals on CAA’s payroll, noting that CAA has no jurisdiction to punish them if they violate Authority rules. He suggested that these individuals should be categorized under operational costs instead.
Bakabunlindi supported this view, stating, “People on secondment are not staff. You only give them a top-up allowance because of their extra services from the mother organization. How can you appear on two payrolls if both organizations are government entities?”
Medard Sseggona argued that all salaries and allowances paid by CAA are budgeted under the Authority’s wage bill, making it impossible to separate them from the wage budget. However, Kwizera disagreed, insisting that appearing on two payrolls is unacceptable.
Bamwesigye informed Parliament that initially, seconded staff were not on CAA’s payroll, but following several petitions by labour unions over discrimination, CAA revised its practice. He promised to review the current arrangement and possibly revert to the previous system, with input from labour unions.
Sseggona requested that the Authority allow the Committee to deliberate on the matter before making any decisions, promising that the Committee’s position would be included in their final report to Parliament.
Established in 1991 through CAA Ordinance Number 2, which was later replaced by CAA Statute Number 3 of 1994, Cap 354, the UCAA is the government agency responsible for licensing, monitoring, and regulating civil aviation.
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