The government has been found to have fewer shares in Uganda Airlines that is being revived.
The Uganda Airlines is privately owned by 99.99% by an undisclosed individual(s) while the governemt has 00.01% share.
MP Joy Atim who presented the report to her colleagues wonders why parliament should approve a supplementary budget of Shs280b to finance the revival of the national carrier yet it has only two percent of the shares.
In his report to parliament Tuesday, Budget committee chairperson Amos Lugoloobi said, that considering the urgency associated with the procurement of the two bombardier planes, his committee took a decision to prepare and present a separate report for the items while still in the process of scrutinizing other items on the total Shs770.2 billion supplementary budget presented by government earlier this month.
Among the approved items off the multi-billion supplementary budget, were the Shs280 billion for the purchase of the planes and the Shs12 billion for the payment of ground rent arrears to Kampala Archdiocese for the land leased to Uganda Police Force at Nsambya police barracks.
According to Lugoloobi, the approved supplementary expenditures for the aircraft and the Archdiocese shall be financed through the additional revenue release in the FY 2018/2019 and proceeds from the anticipated $60 MTN license renewal fees payment and capital gains tax resulting from the sale of Tullow Oil’s assets to Total E&P Uganda at $15 million.
Lugoloobi justified the approval of Shs 280 billion for Uganda Airlines, saying failure to pay, would result in severe penalties and damages against Uganda. Ministry of Works and Transport has been putting enormous pressure on parliament to approve the Shs 280 billion supplementary budget for the purchase of the planes, arguing that Uganda has already defaulted on its payment schedule.
Last year, Uganda ordered for four CRJ900 regional jets with Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, as part of the much-anticipated plan for the revival of Uganda Airlines. The first jets were supposed to have been delivered in January and February this year, but government kept pushing forward the arrival time.
Works and Transport Minister Monica Azuba Ntege has warned that Uganda risks consequences if the money required to secure the two planes not availed.
The Minister together with other ministry officials were appearing before Parliament’s Budget Committee which is currently considering a supplementary expenditure request of 770.2 billion Shillings, part of which 280 billion Shillings is to secure delivery of the two Bombardier planes from Canada.
Azuba warned that the required Shs280 billion has to be made within the next 6 days by March 29 or else the manufacturer will push Uganda’s aircraft orders aside to 2022.
According to Azuba, the Works and Transport technical team is already on its way to Canada to kick-start the aircraft acceptance processes while awaiting approval and transfer of the funds. The planes are expected to arrive at Entebbe Airport on April 8, 2019.
Credit: The Observer
