ENTEBBE —The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has dismissed a fresh wave of old allegations of discrepancies in the age and name for the Director General, Mr. Fred Kanyangoga Bamwesigye as unfounded, baseless and “intended to achieve blackmail”.
The regurgitated allegations of discrepancies in age and name targeting Mr. Bamwesigye have been circulated on social media platforms—purporting to brief Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), on Mr. Bamwesigye including finger pointing on alleged discrepancies in his age and names that, however, been comprehensively investigated and found to be untrue.
“This matter first came to light through a malicious whistle-blower’s letter to various investigative bodies, including the office of the Inspector General of Government, which have all since fully investigated the matter several times and dropped the allegations as unfounded and baseless,” UCAA wrote in a statement —dismissing the recycled allegations as malicious.
The allegations, also previously investigated by different accountability institutions including Court and Inspectorate of Government cleared Mr. Bamwesigye on all the four times the matter was recycled.
“The matter has also been to court through civil suit no. 110 of 2021, and Court resolved the matter through a ruling that exonerated Mr. Bamwesigye on April 9, 2021. He erroneously recorded conflicting dates in his early school days, which was carried on in the first years of employment”.
“However, upon confirmation of the right date of birth, following recovery of authentic documentation, including a baptism card, the right date was formally regularized through a September 2007 Statutory Declaration, and this was long before contemplating that he would in future vie for the position of DG of UCAA.
In 2007, he had not even joined the Authority. The records being discussed on social media are from a passport that was obtained sometime back before confirmation of the exact date of birth (as indicated above). In their investigations, the Inspectorate of Government noted as much, and so did Court, before making a ruling on the matter”.
Investigations indicate that most of these allegations including suggestions of lack of integrity, on the other hand, are being spearheaded by a bitter former employee who lost his job on account of a court order.
While previously, the whistleblower has been anonymous, UCAA says he has since revealed himself as Mr. Pascal Jabbe Osinde, a former employee of UCAA whose services were terminated on account of a Court Order.
“He has now written to the Committee of Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises, other Committees of Parliament and a host of media houses over the same matter (that has severally been investigated and dropped),” UCAA added.
Both, the IGG and Court have since conducted comprehensive audit into the allegations and gave Mr. Bamwesigye a clean bill of health.
