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Govt’s plans to take over Soroti flying school stall
Gen Katumba Wamala (right) officiates at the graduation ceremony of 57 students at the East African Civil Aviation Academy last Friday. PHOTO/SIMON PETER EMWAMU
What you need to know:
The 52-year-old institution, akin to an orphan, is struggling to stay afloat.
The negotiations for Uganda to take over East African Civil Aviation Academy from the East African Community (EAC) have stalled despite the green light from Cabinet.
The academy, popularly known as Soroti flying school, was established by the treaty of cooperation of the first EAC in 1971. It was set up to train pilots from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and also pass out aircraft engineers for the civil aviation industry and train military pilots.
During the second graduation of 57 students from various disciplines held last Friday, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works and Transport, Mr Waiswa Bageya, said despite initiating the negotiations in 2019 for the government to fully take over the academy, the process has stalled.
As a result, operations of the academy have been affected because its legal status remains questionable and has been one of the audit queries in past reports of the Auditor General.
In regards to the above concern, Mr Bageya said a memo was generated which was overwhelmingly supported by the Cabinet.
“We led a team to Arusha (Tanzania) to negotiate the process of the takeover, which was started, however, it has stalled,” Mr Bageya said.
He observed the need to step up the effort of ownership of this institution, adding that after the ownership question is brought to the conclusion, the Ministry of Works and Transport will have the powers to ask the ministry of Finance to create an independent vote for the academy.
Mr Bageya said the ministry is also aware of the dubious ways in which the institute lost its properties, including land and its other challenges such as high attrition staff rate due to low pay.
Gen Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister for Works and Transport and the chief guest at the graduation ceremony, said the government attaches great significance to the management of the academy.
He said the matter about the takeover of the academy was brought before cabinet, and there is no doubt it will be concluded.
“We are just being diplomatic, the fact the institution is in Uganda, in Soroti, we reserve the rights to own it,” Mr Katumba said.
He said overtime, there will be a need to recover the academy’s assets that have been lost.
Mr Katumba said the academy has a lot of demands to be met but the issue of legal status is the only stumbling block.
He added:“The academy relies on handouts, depending on how the PS from the ministry has woken up, because it has no independent vote.”
The academy’s director, Lt Col Ronald Turyamubona, welcomed the renewed call for the government to own the training institute.
He said when the EAC collapsed in 1977, the academy was placed under the Ministry of Works and Transport in Uganda after Kenya and Tanzania stopped funding its operations.
In 2019, Cabinet resolved to take over because efforts to return the academy to the East African Community, re-established in 1999, stalled.
But the process of owning the institute has also hit a snag.
As a result, the academy has financial and human resource challenges, which will be easily addressed once the government takes over.
Lt Col Turyamubona said the academy needs lights along the 1,000 meter runway to enable the students to conduct night flights instead of sending them to Entebbe International Airport.
In 2011, while appearing before the parliamentary committee on Physical Infrastructure to present their budget performance for the Financial Year 2019-2020 and half year 2020-2021, Lt Col Turyamubona said the academy needs about Shs24 billion annually for its operations.
