Uganda Airlines asks employees in acting roles to reapply for jobs 

Uganda Airlines has asked employees in acting roles to reapply for jobs as the carrier seeks to fill 16 top positions, among them chief finance officer, chief commercial officer and chief pilot.   

Speaking in an interview yesterday, Ms Priscilla Mirembe Serukka, the Uganda Airlines chairperson, told Monitor  that they will seek competent people from within and beyond Uganda to fill positions, some of which are new while others have been occupied by people in acting capacity. 

“We felt, as the board, that they be competitively filled, because a number of them were never competitively filled from the beginning. So, we are trying to get them filled with the best. We have introduced new positions such as chief internal auditor and chief information officer, while we have requested some people to reapply as a way of sanitising the organisation,” she said. 

However, Monitor could not readily establish which employees, some of whom are holding jobs in acting capacity, will be required to reapply. 

In a notice published on Monday, Uganda Airlines, which in April appointed a new chairperson and chief executive officer in July, indicated that it was seeking to recruit talented and motivated persons to fill a number of jobs including head of flight operations, head of grounds operations, company secretary, manager quality and monitoring and senior manager information technology and data management. 

Other positions included and head of maintenance and engineering, manager cabin services, manager human resources and manager internal audit. 

Ms Serukka also noted that the exercise will be conducted by the board,  which run more press notices for at least two weeks, before short-listing. 

“We had originally anticipated the exercise to be done by end of October but there have been a number of issues that have delayed us. But the way it is now, we anticipate to be done by mid-November,” she said. 

In April government appointed Ms Serukka to lead the new Uganda Airlines board, three months after disbanding the Perez Ahabwe-led board over alleged corruption, influence pedaling and abuse of office. 

Government also in July appointed Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki, who had been serving in acting capacity, as the substantive chief executive officer, following sacking of Mr Conwell Muleya in February, before he was charged over alleged corruption, causing financial loss and insubordination.  

Mr Waiswa Bageya, the permanent Secretary Ministry of Works, which directly supervises Uganda Airlines, yesterday told Monitor the search for the 16 positions will be conducted by the board now that the national carrier boosts of a strong board. 

“That is one of its primary duties. So, this is one of their mandate. Where they may need our support, especially on positions that will attract so many applicants, that’s then when they will be required to seek support for some aptitude tests,” he said. 

He also noted that people who have been in acting capacity had been asked to apply but noted that such people would have an edge since they have been part of the airline. 

Controversial appointment  

Government has previously been blamed for appointing Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki as Uganda Airlines chief executive before PwC, which had been hired at Shs98m, completed the search for a substantive chief executive officer. Ms  Bamuturaki was appointed on the directive of President Museveni days before the application period could be closed. 

The appointment has since attracted a lot of controversy.

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