President Yoweri Museveni has appointed Mr. Girma Wake as a consultant and acting Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Airlines.
Mr. Girma will replace Jennifer Bamuturaki, who has been fired and faces investigations.
“Reference is made to the current leadership and management weaknesses in Uganda Airlines. I hereby direct that you go ahead and appoint Mr. Girma Wake as a Consultant/Advisor to assist in rectifying a number of management weaknesses in the airline. In addition, he is to serve as Acting CEO until we appoint a new CEOby July 2026, as I had agreed with Ramadhan”. reads Museveni’s letter to Works and Transport Minister, Gen. Katumba Wamala.
Museveni further directed that Mr Girma Wake will work hand in hand with the board until a substantive CEO is appointed.
“I also direct that the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms. Jennifer Bamuturaki, be enabled to step aside immediately and handover to Mr. Girma Wake and the board of Uganda Airlines. The board should go ahead and organise whatever emoluments are due to her.”
In an earlier internal communication circulated to staff last month, Bamuturaki informed employees that the board would soon open the position to applicants.
“The Board will advertise the position of Chief Executive Officer shortly, and you are all encouraged to apply if you meet the required qualifications,” she wrote in a memo seen by Eagle Online.
Although no official exit date was announced, insiders say the decision was sealed during a tense State House meeting in September 2025 when President Yoweri Museveni summoned Uganda Airlines’ top leadership over concerns surrounding aircraft procurement, financial performance, and unresolved audit queries.
Sources familiar with the meeting say the President was unimpressed by explanations offered by management and abruptly ordered Bamuturaki out of the session, signalling a sharp loss of confidence in her leadership. From that point, scrutiny of the airline intensified, with Museveni later directing that her contract should not be extended and instead ordering the board to advertise the position.
The leadership transition has unfolded quietly but now coincides with an escalating criminal investigation into Uganda Airlines’ financial operations.
In a letter dated January 7, 2026, the Criminal Investigations Directorate, working jointly with the State House Anti Corruption Unit, demanded extensive documentation relating to alleged abuse of office, embezzlement of funds and false accounting involving airline officials.
Mr. Wake, aged 83, is an aviation executive who, until 2023, was the board chairman of Ethiopian Airlines.
