The Committee of Commissions Statutory and State Enterprises (COSASE) has tasked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uganda Airlines Jenifer Bamuturaki to account for the US$12,750 (Shs 48.6 million) per diem that she received to travel to different countries, but did not travel.

She reportedly received the money while serving as the Commercial Manager of the new airline and the acting CEO. Bamuturaki said she would respond in writing.

In tandem, the committee has given a 14 days ultimatum to Bamuturaki to present before the members her exact names after the committee discovered that she has more than three names she has been using which differ from her academic and other documents.

In 2019, Bamuturaki legally changed her name to Jennifer Arnold Lenkai but continues to use ‘Jennifer Bamuturaki’ on official documents.

Bamuturaki has been under scrutiny over the operations of the airline. The management of the company reportedly earns huge amounts of money despite making losses. The airline is reported to have recorded Shs 160 billion last financial year.

In 2018, Uganda mooted an idea to revive its airline and hence ordered four Bombardier CRJ900 regional Aircraft. In 2020, the government of Uganda received four Bombardier CRJ900 regional Aircraft that were ordered by Uganda National Airlines Company in July 2018 and two airbuses that were delivered in 2020 and 2021.

Following the arrival of airbuses, the country launched its long-range operations with non-stop intercontinental flights to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

Established in May 1976, Uganda Airlines, started operations in 1977 and was liquidated in May 2001 after efforts to privatize the company failed due to massive debts it had incurred.

Uganda Airlines is competing with Africa’s best such as South Africa Airways, Ethiopian Airways, Kenya Airways, Rwandair, and others on the continent, not forgetting International ones such as Emirates Airways, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airways among others that land at Entebbe International Airport.

Stories Continues after ad

The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Gender and Culture have failed to reach an agreement on the proposal to have museums and monuments in Uganda be regulated under one Ministry, saying the two agencies have been working in harmony with no need to merge the two entities to oversee the historical sites sector.

This was during a meeting held with Parliament’s Committee on Tourism and Trade that is currently considering the Museums and Monuments Bill 2022 that seeks to protect cultural and natural heritage resources and the environment, strengthen and provide set up of institutional structure for effective management of the museums and monuments and to prohibit illicit trafficking of protected objects and to promote local content of cultural and natural heritage.

Clause 8 of the Museum and Monuments Bill stipulates the roles of the Minister of Culture, giving them powers to formulate, review policies and legislation on culture and heritage promotion, preservation and development for museums and heritage sites in Uganda.

However, a number of stakeholders were opposed to leaving these responsibilities to be handed over to the Ministry of Gender and Culture, arguing that the institution’s role is passive and instead proposed to have the Culture aspect of the Gender Ministry be merged with the Ministry of Tourism for effective monitoring and promotion of the historical sites.

The Committee had ordered the two Ministries of Culture and Tourism to harmonize their positions, but Minister of State for Culture, Peace Mutuzo accused officials from the Ministry of Tourism of betrayal, after they suggested to the Committee to have the Culture Ministry merged and taken to the Ministry of Tourism.

Minister Mutuzo informed the Committee that the two entities had agreed to have the tangible aspect of historical sites be regulated by the Ministry of Tourism, while the Ministry of Culture handles the intangible aspects that would fall under its watch.

“While we had harmonized and agreed that we are going to work separately, but in common, I would get shocked to see the Ministry which we have harmonized with and the position which we have come to defend here, deferring from what we have agreed on, I actually feel betrayed,” said Mutuzo.

She rejected the proposal to have her Ministry dragged back to the Ministry of Tourism, comparing the proposal to being raped.

“These two Ministries were separated 15years ago and for a purpose. Tourism can operate independently from the Ministry of Gender for as long as we can sit and harmonize on the things that bring us together. If you are proposing a marriage, you must seek for my consent, don’t come to rape here.”

However, Mwine Mpaka (Mbarara City South) said the Committee was forced to take a decision to have both the promotion of tangible and intangible historical sites be regulated under one Ministry, after the Culture Ministry failed to justify the role it plays in marketing and promotion of tourism in Uganda.

“So your justification is the reason why it can’t be taken to the Ministry of Culture is you would have been left with only wildlife, and you add the tourism value component to these sites, other than that, one Ministry can manage both. You have still not given us a justification on why one Ministry can’t manage both,” said Mwine.

But the Minister of State for Tourism, Martin Mugarra rejected the proposal for the merger of roles, saying the Tourism Committee has also failed to justify the need for the merger, because the Tourism and Culture Ministries have been managing the historical sites without any crisis.

He said:“We have been managing the museum since colonial times and nothing has happened, everything is okay. Because there is no management crisis, we aren’t losing the cultural history, let us not create a unique situation in Uganda, let us work like the others have been working. I still don’t see where the fear is. I am still trying to understand, what is it that you are trying to cure?”

Charles Okello (Nwoya East) however defended the Committee calling for the merger of the two entities saying they will be working for the same government and tasked the two Ministries to explain how they will register and regulate private entities as proposed in clause 18 of the bill.

“The Committee wanted to bring the two together… For us we think there are aspects that the law can help us to address. One of them is to bring participation of ordinary Ugandans on the issue of museums. Let us bring good faith on this table,” Okello said. 

The Museum and Monuments Bill 2022 seeks to repeal the Historical Monuments Act of 1967, Cap- 46, which the Government says has limited focus on preservation and protection of historical monuments, making it obsolete in terms of providing for a much wider cultural and natural heritage.

Stories Continues after ad

Police in close coordination with the US Embassy in Kampala have arrested three suspects for allegedly submitting fraudulent documents for US Visas to the Embassy.

According to Police, two Diplomatic Notes dated 21^st June 2022 and 4^th July 2022, were issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, using fraudulent or falsified police certificates.

“The attached police certificates that are alleged to have been signed by an unknown person on behalf of the Director for Interpol and International Relations, were established to be a forgery,” Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said.

“It is further established that the Diplomatic Note issued on the 21^st June was signed by a one Opio Innocent, a 1st Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He however, did not give clear reasons for issuing the Diplomatic Note. The second Diplomatic Note dated 4^th July was signed by a one Wandera Emmanuel a Foreign Service Officer, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He claimed that we had signed the document after correcting an error on the original document, allegedly signed by his superior. He however, did not notify him of the changes,” Enanga added.

All the 11 applicants were fronted as police officers going for a training course in Washington D.C in the US. Out of the 11 applicants, 10 were established to be civilians, while one police officer, used false information, claiming he was a detective attached to CID Headquarters, yet he was a police driver.

Out of the 11 applicants, 3 travelled to the US and are wanted, three were arrested, two have their passports pending at the US Embassy and 3 had not submitted their documents.

“It is also surprising that the Diplomatic Notes were delivered to the US Embassy, by a one Kiwanuka Louise Mary, a courier at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after informally receiving them from an intermediary, known as Odong John Baptist, who was not an employee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Enanga said.

“We are investigating the entire racket for issuing Diplomatic Notes, in total disregard to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as inquiries in utterance of false documents and conspiracy. We have also re-instituted a similar case file, which was opened against Opio Innocent, for issuance of fraudulent Diplomatic Notes in 2017.”

The investigations do show that a number of travel agents, intermediaries in conspiracy with rogue officials, were submitting fraudulent applications for US visas at a cost. They compile profiles with forged work experience, bank documents, birth certificates, police certificates, marriage certificates among others, to help applicants acquire student visas, study visa’s and resident visas among others. 

Stories Continues after ad

Uganda is still hosting Afghan asylum seekers, the Eagle Online has learnt. The revelation was made by Henry Oryem Okello, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs.

On 25 August 2021, Uganda received the first group of Afghan asylum seekers. The group comprised 51 evacuees including men, women, and children. Initially, the Afghans were meant to stay in Uganda for a period of three months however it is a year later, and the decision to have them relocated lies in the hands of the US government.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Afghans make up one of the largest refugee populations worldwide. There are 2.6 million registered Afghan refugees in the world, of which 2.2 million are registered in Iran and Pakistan. Another 3.5 million people are internally displaced, having fled their homes and searching for refuge within the country.

“The Afghans are still in the country. We so far have less than 100 Afghans. We have not registered them as refugees, they are asylum seekers and they will soon be leaving the country,” Mr. Okello said adding that, “Uganda has not received any security threat from the Taliban despite hosting Afghan asylum seekers.”

The minister said the US government is accessing the security situation in Afghanistan and at the same time working on the program to have them relocated.

Due to its generosity and home to over 1.5 million refugees from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, and other countries, the Afghans can be registered in  Uganda as refugees and allocated to various settlements. About 93 percent of refugees live in settlements located in 12 districts of Uganda and most of those in the urban areas live in the Kampala district.

Esther Anyakun, the minister of State for Refugees said the Afghan evacuees in the country were mostly working with the toppled government.

“Uganda is temporarily hosting the Afghan refugees before they could be relocated by the US government. We are hosting them on request from the US government to His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni,” Ms. Anyakun said.

The refugee bills are catered for by the American government ever since they arrived in the country. Unlike other asylum seekers, the Afghans were not registered and allocated to refugee camps but instead are hosted in various hotels in Kampala.

Ms. Dorothy Nanyonga, the Information Assistant at the US Embassy in Kampala has since not responded to questions sent to her as she asked.  

In August 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan and declared victory after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The militants’ return to rule brought an end to almost 20 years of a US-led coalition’s presence in Afghanistan. Kabul was the last major city to fall to a Taliban offensive that began in July 2021.

Stories Continues after ad