Op-Ed: No iota of truth in Ssenyonyi – CAA bribery allegations

By Frank Mulekwa

I do not intend to defend Senyonyi nor do I intend to defend UCAA but here is a lot of misrepresentation of facts which I think has obscured the truth which is totally unfair to the parties and the general public at large.

For your own information when Parliament raised a lot of dust on UCAA, various independent intel bodies also picked interest in the matter. These included agencies such as ISO, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, the IGG, the Office of the Auditor General etc.

I am glad I have had the rare opportunity of perusing some of their reports but none of them implicates the mentioned personalities.

For instance, funds which were borrowed from EXIM Bank of China for upgrading and expansion of Entebbe International Airport were for specific projects (such as erecting a new cargo centre, resurfacing of runways and associated taxiways and construction of the new terminal, etc.) These are currently being implemented by CCCC. Most of them have been completed and are already in use, save the terminal which will be completed late this year.

It should be noted that Seyani Brothers only handled a different internally funded project for modification of the terminal building. They accomplished their task by covering the scope of work which had been given to them.

The Rwanda Air incident way back in April 2022 had nothing to do with the state of the runway at Entebbe. This was confirmed by the investigation report which pointed to human error as the sole cause. The same runway has been utilised and continues to be utilised smoothly by many other landings and take-offs, totalling about 30,000 aircraft movements per year. In each of the last two years, an average of between 80-100 landings and take-offs per day.

It is also not true that the UPDF Engineering Brigade came in to do some work on the runway. UPDF was independently contracted to complete the modified Terminal Building. This was a totally different project.

For your information, all the funds which are collected from the airport’s Car Parking are duly accounted for as the cash collections are confirmed against the Automated Pay Machines electronically generated reports. This has been verified by various audit reports generated by different independent investigative bodies, including the Auditor General.

Most of the allegations which are making rounds were actually raised before the COSACE and were satisfactorily responded to by the CAA. This culminated in the Final Committee Report which is there for anyone to read.

I therefore think there is no iota of truth in the allegations concerning UCAA and COSASE. The public should therefore ignore the false allegations which are currently trending on social media and treat them with the contempt they deserve.

I remain yours truly; Frank Mulekwa