LOCAL MEDIA LIFT UCAA SMOKESCREEN AND UNLEASH BROADSIDE AGAINST REGULATORS
(Posted 31st July 2014)
‘They used our professional relationship to feed us information. On first sight it looked ok but when digging deeper we found a lot of inconsistencies in their stories. That is when we discovered that they had misused us to become their unwitting helpers to bring down Air Uganda. Now it is obvious what has happened and those responsible will now see us’ said a local journalist when discussing the story in the Observer yesterday.
In a turnaround of sorts have the Ugandan media started to lift the smokescreen and began to poke holes into the UCAA narratives and the Observer story reportedly had the UCAA top brass scramble to attempt damage control when the newspaper hit the market in stark contrast to the first Observer report, when the paper’s journalists allowed themselves to be misled. The media and the public are now demanding answers to questions asked here weeks ago, starting with the validity and legality of the regulations quoted by the UCAA in their letter to Air Uganda of 17th of June, when in fact the statutory instrument was only gazetted weeks later.
A graph shown in an earlier article about the shortfalls of the UCAA during their last audit in 2008 also now puts pressure on ICAO to release the results of the 2013 audit which triggered the knee jerk reaction by the management of the UCAA, an action which led straight into a dead end in a deep abyss for them. The Ugandan public now needs to know, urgently for that matter, how the audits of 2008 and 2013 compare and where the regulators have failed again, five years later, prompting them to take the entire industry down with them to cover up their failures.
Add to that the emerging conspiracy theories which are now sweeping the aviation corridors, that individuals within the UCAA were willing party to the schemes of phantasists who hope to drain state coffers of tens of millions of US Dollars to revive a national airline and provide a major feast until the money is spent and the Auditor General will issue another death certificate of a public enterprise.
‘As I mentioned before, contractual parties for ICAO are the member states, not individual businesses or airlines. It is the member states and their aviation departments which have to apply the regulations issued by ICAO and ensure that their national aviation sector complies with the national regulations, which have to reflect the international framework. ICAO does not audit airlines, though consultations and interaction in particular with global and regional aviation associations are taking place all the time’ reiterated a Montreal based source at ICAO on continued condition of anonymity.
Where does that leave our Ugandan Civil Aviation Authority now is the question. Already suffering the embarrassment of being subjected to a secondment of staff from other regulators in the region, which is suggesting the level of confidence or rather non-confidence in their ability to deal competently and impartially with the matters at hand, is pressure now growing on several fronts. There are increasing calls for the senior staff in Entebbe to resign or be fired and looming large now is the possibility of a law suit against the regulators by affected airlines, which according to information sourced could potentially include named staff to be co-respondents in an individual capacity, where malice and gross negligence by them are alleged. Demands are also emerging that a formal commission of enquiry be instituted where the regulators will have to testify under oath with the penalty of perjury if they would be found to mislead the commission.
Meanwhile will Ethiopian and RwandAir commence operations on 01st of August out of Entebbe under 5th freedom traffic rights, bringing relief to thousands of outraged passengers who were forced to undertake long detours to reach such destinations like Bujumbura, Juba, Mogadishu or Dar es Salaam and suffered increased fares on the routes. There is however also an element of resentment to have to travel with other airlines while their airline of choice, Air Uganda, remains grounded over what increasingly now looks as an entirely arbitrary act by a regulatory body which has spun entirely out of control, presided over by a board of directors which has remained notably silent and shown a complete disconnect from the industry, as has the UCAA itself. Quo Vadis Uganda aviation – keep watching this space for what will no doubt bring up more twists in the tail of this sorry saga.
