On Tuesday, legislators on the Commission on Commissions, State Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) discovered notable salary disparities among Uganda Airlines officials.
Legislators on the Committee on Commissions, State Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) were on Tuesday left in shock after discovering notable salary disparities among officials at Uganda Airlines.
According to the COSASE chairman, Joel Ssenyonyi, the chief executive officer of Uganda Airlines earns at least sh87 million per month, while the Chief Financial Officer earns sh73m, Manager Finance earns sh58m, and the Director Maintainance is on sh80m.
Others including the Manager IT, he said earn sh36m, Human Resource Manager sh43m, Manager Cargo sh14m, Quality Assurance sh43m.
The Committee chairman also questioned why some Pilots get UGX60m and others UGX50m. Some Cabin Crew members earn UGX4m, while others earn UGX2m.
Ssenyonyi went on the question why the Airlines would continue disbursing exorbitant salaries to it’s workers when it is yet to start generating any profits.
“If the airline was making money, it would be okay; we want workers of the airline to be paid well but you made a loss of Shs 164 billion in the financial year 2020-2021, and yet people are being paid over Shs 80 million,” Ssenyonyi reasoned.
His submission was also supported by the Kasambya County legislator Gaffa Mbwatekamwa who said it is mismanagement that such figures are being given to one sector in the country when many Ugandans remain stuck in poverty with inadequate social services.
“This is alarming; we understand the high pay for pilots but administrators and directors?” Mbwatekamwa raised.
In explanation of the figures, Jennifer Bamuturaki the CEO of Uganda Airlines says that Airbus has a pay structure that is totally different from that of CRJ Bombardier.
Responding to this, however, Ssenyonyi said it’s a shame that an airline that is already operating in losses disburses all these salaries to its workers.
As a result, he also challenged the Airlines to explain the irregular recruitment of the CEO, Jenifer Bamuturaki, who worked as an aide to the former acting CEO, Captain Steven Wegoye.
Ssenyonyi said although the board had embarked on a search for a substantive CEO by contracting Price Water House Coopers, and 40 people had applied for the job, the process was halted following a presidential directive appointing Jenifer Bamuturaki.
Uganda Airlines came to the stage officially in 2019 to start operating commercial flights but since then, the company has been under the management of three acting CEOs including Ephraim Bagenda, Cornwell Muleya and Bamuturaki.
Bamuturaki was fired at the end of her six-month’s probation back in March 2020 over a number of notable allegations including hiring a media and PR firm, Abbavator Ltd where she had direct interests, to manage the PR and communications for the airline and subsequently over-invoicing the airline by over $232,000.
According to an article by The Observer newspaper, she was also accused as then second in command of approving payments of over $404,000 yet the actual cost was $172,000.
She was also accused of failing to eventually comply with contractual obligations by not paying several media houses and eventually engaging in negative publicity against Uganda Airlines, whose image it was meant to protect.
Bamuturaki was also accused of using her position to establish external air stations on routes of Nairobi, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Dr es Salaam and Kilimanjaro.
She somehow skirted around the allegations and bounced back at the airline in May 2021 as acting CEO, replacing Muleya who is currently battling charges related to disobedience of lawful orders when he refused to avail himself to answer questions from the IGG in relation to investigations into the mismanagement of the national carrier during the period when he was the CEO of the airline.
[…] COSASE: Joel Ssenyonyi Questions Uganda Airlines’ Salary Disparities […]
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