Jennifer Bamuturaki, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uganda Airlines, has revealed how she got appointed to the top job at the national carrier.
On July 05, Works and Transport Minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala wrote to the Board of Directors of the Uganda National Airlines Company Limited, informing them that President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni had appointed Bamuturaki the CEO of the revamped national carrier.
The appointment, which Museveni made on April 24, 2022, raised eyebrows because it did not come to the public domain until the official process of recruitment of a new CEO to replace Cornwell Muleya had started.
Two months after Museveni appointed Bamuturaki, the new CEO and the Board of Directors did not know that she had been appointed. On June 24, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), acting on behalf of Uganda Airlines, ran adverts in newspapers announcing the start of a recruitment process for Muleya’s successor.
When she appeared before Nakawa West MP Joel Ssenyonyi’s Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (Cosase) today, August 16, Bamuturaki shocked MPs when she said she had not applied for the job but Museveni had appointed her.
At least 40 people had applied for the Uganda Airlines CEO job, and Bamuturaki was not among them. She told Cosase that she received the good news of her appointment on the day she had planned to file her application.
“On the day I was going to apply, that is when I was appointed,” Bamuturaki told Cosase.
The directive to appoint Bamuturaki led to the suspension of the recruitment process that was being undertaken by PwC on behalf of Uganda Airlines Board of Directors.
Bamuturaki also battled questions on how she had been appointed aide to the acting CEO in the first place since she was not handed a letter of appointment nor was she earning a salary as an aide.
In Uganda, it is not uncommon for recruitment processes to be marred by irregularities.
For example, last month, several teachers accused officials of the Education Service Commission (ESC) for denying them government payroll jobs and giving them to those who could pay between Shs2m and Shs5m. (Read Story Here).
