The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has dismissed or transferred 82 employees after a staff credentials audit revealed questionable academic qualifications, UCAA Director General Fred Bamwesigye has disclosed.
Appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on Thursday, 7 August 2025, Bamwesigye said the action followed a directive from the President and a thorough internal disciplinary process.
“There were only 82 employees who, after a full disciplinary process and a fair hearing, had their contracts terminated, while those seconded by other agencies were sent back,” he told the committee.
The COSASE session, chaired by Medard Ssegona, was probing issues raised in the Auditor General’s Report for the financial year 2023/2024. MPs demanded clarity on media reports suggesting that UCAA had employed individuals with fake or inadequate academic credentials.
“This committee and the country would want to know what could have gone wrong that their qualifications were wanting,” Ssegona questioned. “What took you so long to detect this, that it had to take the intervention of the President?”
He further pressed UCAA to update Parliament on specific actions taken against those found guilty of using forged documents to secure jobs.
Concerns over recruitment integrity were echoed by other committee members. Fred Kayondo (DP, Mukono South) criticised UCAA for lax background checks.
“You are running an international airport. Recruiting people without due diligence cannot be excusable,” Kayondo said. “What impact will it have when people interested in travelling to Uganda hear that the airport is run by incompetent people?”
Martin Muzaale (Buzaaya County) raised doubts about the fairness of the internal disciplinary process, pointing to potential conflicts 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?” he asked.
Richard Nangoli (NRM, Elgon North County) called for an immediate overhaul of UCAA’s recruitment procedures to prevent future irregularities.
Bamwesigye acknowledged that the staff audit was the first of its kind at UCAA and described the exercise as time-consuming but necessary.
“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.
The affected staff included individuals seconded from the Uganda Police Force and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), according to the Director General.