Asked last week to explain under oath her true identity, and defend her academic qualifications during an explosive appearance before the oversight parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprise (Cosase), the embattled Uganda Airlines chief executive officer found a hard time projecting the much-desired calm and composure.
“We should first ascertain who she is legally before we proceed with her. We could be dealing with someone we cannot confirm that she’s the same person tomorrow,” said Dan Kimosho, member of parliament for Kazo County.
The committee learnt that Bamuturaki had tried through a deed poll in 2019 to change her name from Musiime Bamuturaki Jenifer to Jenifer Arnold Lenkhai. Bamuturaki informed the committee that she changed her mind before completing the entire name-changing process.
While querying Bamuturaki’s qualification for the job, Joel Ssenyonyi, the Cosase chairperson, said, “At the time of the CEO’s appointment (July 5, 2022), she didn’t have the minimum academic qualifications because it had to be a degree and a post-graduate diploma.”
In an August 2022 interview with The Observer, Bamuturaki said she studied a master’s degree course immediately after her undergraduate studies.
“My mother didn’t like my job of selling iron sheets and nails; so, she persuaded me to immediately do a master’s degree in Public Administration and Management. I was still young and some of my colleagues on the course were distinguished public figures such as Dr. John Mitala (former head of Public Service) and Wasswa Ziritwawula (former Kampala Central LC3 chairperson). Also, there was Jennifer Musisi [former KCCA executive director],” Bamuturaki said.
Bamuturaki, however, angered committee members when she failed to present her degree transcript 28 years after graduation.
“I have been to Makerere to find my transcript but the file where the transcripts for some of us who haven’t picked (transcripts) yet cannot be traced. Some faculties have been moved. I have been given time to wait until they find it,” Bamuturaki said.
She also informed the committee that she had misplaced her senior four certificates from Kyebambe Girls School. Bamuturaki and other Uganda Airlines officials appeared before Cosase committee to answer concerns raised by the auditor general on the operation of the airline for the financial year ending June 2021.
The Auditor General’s report highlighted discrepancies in the wages of the airline staff, the CEO earns Shs 87 million, chief financial officer (Shs 73 million), manager finance (Shs 58 million), and the director of maintenance (Shs 80 million). Manager ICT earns Shs 36 million, human resource earns Shs 43 million, Manager Cargo (Shs14 million), and manager Quality Assurance earns Shs 43 million.
Ssenyonyi asked the team to explain why some pilots, managers, and directors earn more than their counterparts at the same level.
“If the airline was making money it would be okay; we want workers of the airline to be paid but you made a loss of Shs 164 billion in the financial year 2020-2021, and yet people are being paid over Shs 80 million,” said Ssenyonyi.
Interviewed by journalists immediately after appearing before parliament on August 18, 2022, Bamuturaki said, “I don’t earn what was mentioned yesterday. I earn close to 50 per cent less than that. Thirty-five per cent of all the salary that we earn goes back to the government. We are also taxpayers. …We are even paid much less than the airlines around us,” said Bamuturaki
With many wondering how Bamuturaki got the coveted job; political analyst, Charles Rwomushana tweeted, “The other thing I admire about Museveni is that he never forgets children of his slain comrades in arms”.
Rwomushana’s August 18 2022 tweet appreciated that Museveni has continued to reward families of historical members and supporters of the National Resistance Army.
Rwomushana pointed to the likelihood that Museveni gave Bamuturaki the job largely due to her fallen father’s (George Bamuturaki) contribution to the NRA struggle. In February 1982, Bamuturaki senior, then a Member of Parliament for Kabarole North, was fatally shot at Kisementi in the capital Kampala, allegedly by former President Milton Obote’s soldiers.
The slain legislator was accused of financing Museveni’s rebel outfit- the National Resistance Army. This is corroborated in her August 2022 interview with The Observer in which she said that her father was shot several times and killed as he shopped at Kisementi in Kamwokya.
“I avoided passing there [Kisementi] for years until recently when my daughter persuaded me to go shopping there,” she said.
The parliamentary scrutiny of Bamuturaki’s qualifications and experience has brought into public view potentially disastrous political and tribal divisions.
To some, the parliamentary scrutiny is an affront to the Kingdom of Tooro because Bamuturaki is a mutooro by tribe. So how do Banuturaki’s qualifications, work experience, and salary compare with other airline CEOs around the region?
See their profiles below.
JENIFER BAMUTURAKI, CEO UGANDA AIRLINES
Much as her qualifications are queried because she hasn’t tendered her academic documents, Bamuturaki insists she holds a bachelor’s degree in Social work and Social Administration from Makerere University.
She began as a sales representative at Alam group. She later joined the Sheraton Hotel’s sales department. She became a sales manager and later director of sales and marketing. She joined East African airlines in 2004, as country manager.
Bamuturaki briefly worked with a travel consultant called Itravel at Entebbe Airport as a consultant before joining Air Uganda where she worked as the director sales and Marketing under Cornwell Muleya (former Uganda Airlines CEO). She has since taken over from Muleya and earns about Shs 87 million.
KENYA AIRWAYS , ALLAN KILAVUKA
He is the chief executive officer and managing director of Kenya Airways, Kenya’s national carrier established in 1977. He’s been CEO since April 2022. He doubles as a board member of the International Air Transport Association – a trade association of the world’s airlines.
Between January 2019 to March 31, 2020, Kilavuka served as the CEO of Jambojet, a low-cost carrier entirely owned by Kenya Airways. Before that, he served as the Head of Global Operations for General Electric Africa between July 2015 and November 2015 among other roles. Kilavuka holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Nairobi and a post-graduate certificate in Psychology from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
He is an active member of the Certified Public Accounts of Kenya. Although Kilavuka’s salary isn’t public, he is reported to have earned approximately $348,000 in salary and non-cash benefits in 2020.
Kenya Airways reported a net loss of $130.5 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2021, a 56.58 per cent decrease from the $313.2 million net loss reported for the financial year ended December 31, 2020. The company last reported a profit in 2012.
SOUTH AFRICA AIRLINES – THOMAS KGOKOLO
He is the interim CEO of South African Airways, the national carrier of South Africa established in 1934. He’s been CEO effective April 13, 2021. He has been a lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Science since March 2017.
Kgokolo also serves as the board chairperson of the Mineworkers Provident Fund (MWPF) managing approximately $1.6 billion in assets. He is the Non-Executive Director at the Air Traffic Navigation Services- the sole provider of air traffic management, navigation, training, and associated services within South Africa.
He is a member of the audit committee at the Financial Intelligence Centre and National Consumer Tribunal. Kgokolo holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Gordon Institute of Business Science in South Africa. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Computing from the University of South Africa and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Pretoria.
He is a chartered accountant of South Africa. He is pursuing an executive doctorate in business administration and management general at Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Although the CEO’s salary is not public, media reports indicate that he earns approximately $355,000 every year. As of April 2020, South African Airways had racked up about $1.7 billion in net losses accumulated since 2008.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, MESFIN TASEW BEKELE
Bekele has superintended the national airline of Ethiopia since March 2022. Although he manages a fleet of 138 aircraft, Bekele earns a paltry $2,230 per month. The airline reported a revenue of $3.5 billion for the financial year 2020/21 maintaining the top spot as Africa’s most profitable airline.
Bekele has experience spanning over four decades in airline management. Before he was appointed CEO, Bekele served as the chief operating officer of Ethiopian Airlines between 2010 and 2021. He earlier served as the vice president of maintenance and engineering between 2006 and 2010 for the same airline.
Bekele holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, from Addis Ababa University. He also holds a master of science in communications engineering from the same university and another master of business administration degree from the Open University, in the United Kingdom. However, the airline is Africa’s most profitable airline since its establishment in December 1945.
RWANDAIR YVONNE MANZI MAKOLO
She is the CEO of RwandAir, the national carrier of Rwanda, established in 2002. Makolo holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and environmental sciences from McGill University, Canada, and a postgraduate diploma in information technology from the Institute of Information Technology in Canada.
She worked on a World Bank project with an NGO called World links, which computerized Rwandan schools and also trained Rwandan teachers in the use of computers. In 2006, she joined MTN Rwanda where she rose through the ranks to become the company’s marketing manager.
In 2017, Makolo became the deputy managing director in charge of corporate affairs of RwandAir before she was appointed substantive managing director for the airline in 2018.
On June 20, 2022, Makolo was announced as the first woman to chair the International Air Transport Association board of governors effective June 2023. By 2016, the airline had racked up $222 million in losses with the figure expected to have grown further during the two years of the pandemic. Yvonne Makolo’s salary is not public.
AIR TANZANIA, LADISLAUS MATINDI
Matindi has been managing director and chief executive officer of Air Tanzania since 2016. Air Tanzania was established in September 2016. Matindi holds a master’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Padollia University, Ukraine, and an MBA in International Business from Birmingham University in the United Kingdom.
He previously served as the director of the Joint Programme Office for the European Union Satellite Navigation Services for the African Region Programme. This is a regional structure created to coordinate the deployment of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS).
EGNOS augments the US GPS satellite navigation system and makes it suitable for safety-critical applications such as flying aircraft or navigating ships through narrow channels.
In Africa, EGNOS has its headquarters in Dakar, Senegal. He also served in various aviation industry-related Management and Functional positions at the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat and Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority.
CORNWELL MULEYA, UGANDA AIRLINES
Until February 2022 when he was ousted, Muleya was the acting chief executive officer of Uganda Airlines. Muleya holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.
He worked with Price Waterhouse Coopers between 1985-1989. He has worked with Air Botswana as CEO, Air Mauritius as the chief finance officer, and Zambezi Airlines Limited, as the CEO. He also worked as the CEO of defunct Air Uganda between 2013- to 2014.
Muleya is currently battling anti- corruption charges over mismanagement of the finances at Uganda Airlines. Before he was sacked, Muleya earned a monthly gross salary of Shs 126 million.
In a March 28, 2022 notice of intention to sue through his lawyers of Muwema and Company Advocates to the interim Uganda airlines chairperson, Waiswa Bageya, Muleya demanded salary arrears of Shs 126 million for February 2022.
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