Uganda Airlines’s top brass found itself sucked into a financial morass when it appeared before the House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE). Jenifer Bamuturaki, the national carrier’s Chief Executive, and her team found themselves grappling with a deeply unsettling question of losses that have hit the Shs1 trillion mark across five years. The House Committee expressed concern that only 30 per cent of the national carrier’s planned activities were executed. Queries were also raised about fuel contracts and legal expenses. It was not all doom and gloom, though. Bamuturaki responded enthusiastically to guidance by Medard Lubega Ssegona, the COSASE Chairperson, that social media discussions around the airworthiness of the four CRJ900s that are part of the fleet of Uganda’s flag carrier could potentially hurt its bottom line. Last week, Uganda Airlines revealed that a dearth of spare parts for its CRJ900s from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Mitsubishi has handicapped its work. Peter Emuge, Head of Engineering, said a 300-day wait for some spare parts highlights the supply chain challenges that continue to assail Uganda’s flag carrier. Still, Uganda Airlines is desirous of outrightly purchasing eight new aircraft, four of which are narrow-body.
After a stop-start meeting with Primer Minister Robinah Nabbanja, city traders resolved to end a strike that spanned two days. The traders had their shops under lock and key over punishing taxes on garments quantified in kilogrammes and the green light that appears to have been given to foreigners to take part in retail businesses. The festering wound of Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing Solution (EFRIS) also contrived to compound matters. Nabbanja had to speak with very agreeable and hopeful expressions in a bid to convince the traders that the higher-ups in the government will not pay little heed to the issues. The traders later came away with the belief that the government will respond to their issues within one month. More than anything, the strike has spotlighted the deep-seated differences among the traders’ umbrella body, Kampala City Traders’ Association (KACITA). With both Thaddeus Musoke Nagenda and Issa Sekitto laying claim to the body’s chairmanship, the traders did not sing from the same hymn sheet during the strike. While some shops were closed, it was business as usual for others. Sekitto, who was at the meeting with Nabbanja, said that such differences are counterproductive.
After the FUFA Paradise Hotel made headlines for all the wrong reasons, Uganda’s football governing body pulled out all the stops to assure Ugandans that the facility hosting the home team during the ongoing African Nations Championship (CHAN) is not a glorified lodge. FUFA welcomed different media crews and social media influencers into the hotel’s premises in a bid to dispel awkward questions about its hotel’s suitability to offer the lodging experience befitting an event of CHAN’s stature. Moses Magogo, FUFA president, said the national team having a “customised” hotel to itself allows it to prepare for matches in a manner that other conventional hotels cannot manage owing to their business models. The FUFA Paradise Hotel is sandwiched by dirt roads in the dusty Kampala suburb of Kisaasi. Algeria (Golden Tulip), South Africa (Skyz, Protea Hotel), Guinea (Protea Hotel, Kampala) and Niger (Four Points by Sheraton) who were all beaten to top position in Group C at the 2024 CHAN had their players and backroom staff check into superior lodging facilities in Uganda’s capital.
CBS, an American broadcaster, reported that Uganda has signed on the dotted line to take in an unspecified number of migrants of African and Asian descent that have claimed asylum on the US-Mexico border. According to documents obtained by CBS, Uganda will only take in migrants with no criminal histories. Washington has ramped up the deportation plans of the Trump administration after getting the all clear from the US Supreme Court in June. The court ruled that the migrants can be deported to countries other than their homeland. Calling the decision “a gross abuse,” Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the majority ruling.