A viral video circulating online has laid bare the extent of the crisis rocking Uganda Airlines.
The video, which accompanied a post on X by analyst Andrew Mwenda, shows abandoned check-in counters at Entebbe International Airport as stranded passengers mill around amid reports of grounded flights and operational disruptions.
“You want a video?” a woman who recorded the video asks. “They checked in only a few passengers and left others stranded. That is Uganda Airlines […] They have abandoned the counters.”
Mr Mwenda posted on Tuesday to say the crisis at the airline, which has made losses since it returned to the skies in 2019 after it was liquidated in 2001, had deepened.
“The tragedy happening at Uganda Airlines is far beyond even my 2019 doomsday predictions,” he wrote.
“One plane is stuck in Lagos, another in London, passengers stranded, airline rapidly falling apart as top management loot with impunity. Even God cannot save this airline.”
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On Saturday, the airline issued a brief statement on its X page, saying: “Uganda Airlines acknowledges, with regret, the disruption to our flight operations and the inconvenience caused to all affected guests.”
It added: “We are focused on resolving the situation and ensuring full restoration of our regular service.”
The airline did not respond to our requests for comment made by telephone and on WhatsApp.
The crisis rocking the airline began just months after it had been revived in 2019. Local media reported it had grounded planes after reports of cancelled flights. It denied the reports.
Then came the Auditor General’s report, which revealed that Uganda Airlines had made a loss of shs164.5 billion in the 2020–21 financial year.
The parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) went to work and unearthed some really startling facts.
It found the CEO, Jennifer Bamuturaki, did not have the requisite qualifications listed in the Uganda Airlines HR manual, had not even applied for the job (which had been advertised) and went on to hire a commercial director named Regina Tebasiima who only had an A-Level certificate.
Godwin Toko, deputy Team Leader at AGORA, a local NGO, said on X: “As a patriotic Ugandan, I think we should now start praying for the collapse of Uganda Airlines before the situation gets worse! If it fails now, there is not much damage, we just cut our losses as taxpayers and move on.”
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