Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has fired or transferred 82 employees with questionable educational qualifications, following a Presidential directive, Authority Director General Fred Bamwesigye has told MPs.
Bamwesigye, who led UCAA officials to the House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) to answer queries in the Auditor General’s Report for the financial year 2023/2024, said the move followed a disciplinary process.
“There were only 82 employees, who after a full disciplinary process and a fair hearing, had their contacts terminated while those who were seconded by other agencies were sent back,” Bamwesigye said during the meeting held on Thursday, 07 August 2025.
Members on the Committee asked the officials to explain media reports alleging that they had employed staff with questionable academic qualifications.
“This committee and the country would want to know what could have gone wrong that their qualifications were wanting. What took you so long to detect that it had to take the intervention of the President for you to know such people exist?” asked Hon. Medard Ssegona, the committee chairperson.
Ssegona further asked UCAA to update Parliament on action taken against each of the affected employees, especially those found guilty of using fake documents to obtain employment.
MPs expressed concern about the credibility and integrity of UCAA’s recruitment processes, with Hon. Fred Kayondo (DP, Mukono County South) questioning how such a high-profile institution could fail to conduct thorough background checks.
“You are running an international airport, recruiting people without due diligence cannot be excusable. What impact will it have when people interested in traveling to Uganda hear that the airport is run by incompetent people?” Kayondo asked.
Buzaaya County MP, Hon. Martin Muzaale, cast doubt on the fairness of the internal review process conducted by the Authority, citing possible conflict of interest.
“Have you been able to cluster those who were seconded by other entities such that we know those deployed by UCAA were largely okay?” Muzaale asked.
Hon. Richard Nangoli (NRM, Elgon North County) urged the Authority to urgently review its recruitment policy to avoid a recurrence of such incidents.
Bamwesigye identified the Uganda Police Force and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) as some of the government agencies whose seconded staff were affected by the qualifications audit.
He added that this was the first time UCAA had undertaken such a comprehensive audit of staff credentials and that it was a lengthy and meticulous process.
“It is the first time we did it in the history of UCAA, and it took so long to go to institutions of learning. In some cases, the documents presented to us were okay, while in some cases the documents were tampered with,” he said.
