EXCLUSIVE! UPDF soldiers take over Entebbe Airport as Aircrafts’ parking delay incidences pile up

Soldiers will be working as marshallers—personnel who direct aircrafts to park.

Soldiers will be working as marshallers—personnel who direct aircrafts to park.

Soldiers from UPDF-Air Force have taken over operations at Entebbe International Airport, this publication has exclusively learnt.

They have particularly been posted to the airside services department headed by a civilian Chris Omondi. These will be working as marshallers—personnel who direct aircrafts to park.

These signal the pilot to keep turning, slow down, stop, and shut down engines, leading the aircraft to its parking stand or to the runway.

Information obtained indicates that Civil Aviation Authority bosses have decided to enlist the services of the army for now following several incidences of errors and delays (some avoidable) in allocating parking space to aircrafts commonly known as aprons in aviation language by civilian marshallers.

We have learnt that heads are set to roll in this department and voices calling for action against its head, Omondi and Kulthum Namataka (supervisor) who is romantically linked to the latter are deafening.  A few days ago, according to insiders,  Namataka was asked to explain how  the main door to Operations was destroyed and  CAA had to end up incurring losses to repair it expensively.  Staffers are also concerned as to why she and elderly Micheal Omaruic jealously guard a key to the VVIP Operations to the detriment of other staffers.

Another staffer in the spotlight is this elderly Omaruic who should have reportedly retired five years ago after clocking 60 years. But for reasons well known to those in charge, he keeps getting two year contract extensions.  We are told he already has two warning letters because of Uganda Airlines and Emirates airlines parking delay incidents but he’s yet  to defend himself. Sources say he brags among his colleagues that he’s the eye and ears of the President at CAA and no one can touch him. and whoever dares, he reports them to SFC boys for fixing.   In the Uganda Airlines (UR 711) he reportedly refused to park it and hid himself in the toilet.  “Omaruic does that so that UCAA management knows that he’s still very relevant in the organization and they keep on renewing his contract,” adds an insider.

Another staffer/marshaller identified as Allen Nabaasa who some colleagues say is a victim of witch hunt and may become a sacrificial lamb has already been asked to defend herself why she shouldn’t be taken for disciplinary action.  Others suffering a similar fate include one  Mukisa and Shadrach. 

This new development also puts on spotlight the directorate of Airports & Aviation Security (DAAS) under Eng. Ayub Sooma the office of the General Manager, headed by former CDF and now Internal Affairs minister Gen.David Muhoozi’s Brother Emmanuel Barungi who also all play a supervision role.

SABOTAGE?

A number of staff under this section are now under probe after a report revealed that some incidents could be avoided.

Cases of absenteeism, disappearance from duty and deliberate refusal to take supervisor’s work instructions have all reportedly led to this situation, putting the airport management under spotlight.

It has also been revealed that understaffing is a major challenge at this department with sometimes one person ends up manning a shift of three persons.

Some staff also feel that someone is out there to just sabotage everything.

According to insiders, this is all about sabotage and in-house fights that needs to be addressed.

That it is common knowledge at the airside department that there is a war between staff with higher academic qualifications and their shift leaders who lack some.

The latter now feel threatened coupled with leadership ineptitudes and as a result end up in witch-hunt and sabotage games.

We have also learnt that some officers are out there to push out others and fill the positions with their own. Forinstance Airport Operations Officer-Omondi’s two sons have reportedly completed apron management training and he is doing all he can to create space for them even if it means some people being shipped out.

We have also learnt that one of the bosses in this directorate, whose contract is expiring soon, is eyeing the Uganda airlines top job. Because of this, some of the incidents concerning Uganda airlines flights may be interpreted as deliberate to cast Jennifer Bamuturaki management in bad light.

We have further learnt that this same boss was also eyeing the CAA Director General Job before it was given to Fred Bamwesigye. Could the same boss be working underground to fail Bamwesigye’s CAA led management? This is a story for another day.

WHY DEPLOY ARMY

Sources say, there are concerns that ‘unpatriotic’ civilians are not doing a good job in some MDAs. And because of this, there is a need to deploy Ugandans who have gone through cadre-ship and patriotic training and at the same time willing to take orders—its only soldiers who have got such qualities—civilians are fond of taking corners.

ARMY TAKING CENTRE STAGE

With soldiers proving to be performers, key institutions such as Police, the national ID project, Immigration, and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) have fallen under the firm grip of army officers.

It should be noted that when things were not going well at the Immigration Directorate at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, soldiers were sent there. Brig Gowa Kasita was sent as Director of Immigration and Citizenship. Col Geoffrey Kambare who has been serving as the Director for Intelligence Collection in UPDF was sent there as Commissioner of Immigration. Col Johnson Namanya was also sent there as Commissioner of Citizenship and Passport.

The army, through the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC), is also actively involved in Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC), a State enterprise established to champion the development of the domestic automotive value chain. The UPDF is also involved in the Railway project.

The National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) is another government agency run by the army under the ministry of Internal Affairs. Nira, among other things, is charged with creating, managing, maintaining and operationalising the National Identification Register.

Even on corruption, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Brig Gen Henry Isoke to assist the office of the Inspectorate of Government.

The former spokesperson of the army, Brig Gen. Richard Karemire was once quoted defending strategic army deployments thus: “Wherever UPDF has been assigned tasks, it takes along its character of discipline, professionalism and patriotism. This and other leadership competencies have led us to succeed where others have not easily done so. The human resource capacity UPDF has built overtime through training and accumulated experience is incredibly huge and makes the force a reservoir that can be tapped into whenever there is need for strategic intervention. The various achievements such as bringing peace and stability in the country and other parts of the continent did not happen by accident. They are out of meticulous planning and sacrifice. Therefore, such deployments should not be seen as taking over as there is no need again having done so on January 26, 1986, but rather as reinforcement to provide accelerated services to our people in order to achieve social economic transformation. Therefore, let us not burn our energies on debates but instead focus on how to best build synergies to deliver what our people desire, such as law and order.” This story was first published on Nov 3, 2022 at 13:16 pm and later updated Nov 5, 2022 at 2:38 pm. (DO YOU HAVE A HOT STORY (CHEATERS, DIVORCE, VIDEOS, CORRUPTION, LAND WRANGLES, EXPOSES …ETAL) YOU WOULD LIKE US TO PUBLISH? CALL/TEXT/WHATSAPP 0777959024 OR EMAIL: redpeppertips@gmail.com)

 

 

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