Why Museveni Sacked Uganda Airlines CEO Jennifer Bamuturaki

Jennifer Bamuturaki Musiime leaves Uganda Airlines with one of the two: a shamed face or a sigh of relief, following a controversial stint at the helm of the national carrier. ‎

On Monday, she circulated a message to her staff informing them of an impending advertisement for the Chief Executive Officer post, which she has held for close to five years, including one in an acting capacity.

It’s now clear that Bamuturaki will not be at the airlines long. “The Board will advertise the post of Chief Executive Officer shortly, and you are all encouraged to apply if you meet the required qualifications,” the internal mail read.

Over her time as CEO, Bamuturaki’s management has faced three investigations, including one by the Parliamentary Committee on State Authorities (COSASE)  in 2024 following sustained losses by the company.

Last month, another investigation was conducted jointly by the police Criminal Investigations Department and the State House Anti-corruption Unit, which was interested in reports of mismanagement, corruption, and abuse of office.

This has been running more or less concurrently with another inquiry by the Board of Directors of the Company, which summoned Bamuturaki and her management team to respond to several allegations, including procurement malpractices and others, which have led to huge losses by the company over time.

‎‎It is reported that the State House/Police probe followed a meeting at State House, chaired by President Museveni in September last year, which all but sealed Bamuturaki’s fate. Her explanations of the under-performance of the airline were not convincing to the president who then angrily evicted her from the meeting.

‎‎At the centre of the COSASE probe was the 237.8 billion Shillings incurred during the 2023/2024 financial year, as stated in the Auditor General’s report. While it was pinned on mismanagement, undue over-payments, and high costs of maintenance of the aircraft, among others.

Bamuturaki and her team, however, said the profits were greatly affected by the high prices of jet fuel in that period, the leasing of aircraft to expand the fleet, the difficulty in getting spare parts, as well as high depreciation costs. However, committee members blamed the company for procuring aircraft which were outdated, without considering that this would result in high maintenance costs.‎

Other allegations included a “ticket scam” featuring an internal syndicate that resulted in the loss of USD 253,189 and violations of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act, embezzlement and generally abuse of office.

Over the last year, the media has been awash with reports of persistent and increasing mismanagement of operations and poor governance, dismissing the defenses on Bamuturaki.‎‎

The fight disruptions over the last few months, including delays that went from hours to days without explanations and cancellations without communication, made matters worse.‎

‎One of the issues the Board wanted the management to respond to was the silence or the lack of information flow to stranded passengers, and also to state what plans they had for responding to complaints by customers. ‎The Board also wanted Bamuturaki to present all cases of reported flight disruptions, the number of passengers involved and the costs of the disruptions.

‎One official at the company interpreted Bamuturaki’s circular as a tip-off to managers who may want to take over when the announcement is officially made, or a way of informing them of her departure to manage the “possible noise”. She, however, hinted at the possibility that the CEO would be sacked alongside other members of the top management.

However, other sources says Bamuturaki’s “ripoff” could have come a little too late, as replacement might already have been found in the name of Girma Wake.‎‎ Wake (born 1943) is a renowned Ethiopian aviation executive who served as CEO of Ethiopian Airlines between 2004 and 2011, overseeing a period of rapid growth for the country.‎‎ He later served as the company’s Board Chairman in 2022 and 2023.

‎Wake’s appointment is still a subject of speculation until a substantive CEO is confirmed.