Police Probes Claims of ‘Death Threats’ by Parliament’s Cosase

The Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire says they are investigating allegations of death threats by a section of MPs under Parliament’s Committee on State Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase).

This follows claims by the Committee Chairperson Joel Ssenyonyi that three MPs  have so far received life threatening calls to stop digging deeper into a matter of financial loss and salary disparities at the Uganda Airlines.

Senyonyi confirmed the threats on Friday last week, saying, they are not about to back off from a matter causing the government huge losses. He said that their lives are in God’s hand for divine protection.

Owoyesigyire confirms Ssenyonyi claims that the threats are being authored by a “powerful minister”.

He says police have already taken statements from Ssenyonyi  and that investigations into his claim had begun.

“Yesterday, I got a call from Tourism Minister Tom Butime, threatening and intimidating me over Uganda Airlines probe,” Ssenyonyi stated. “Because apparently Jennifer Bamuturaki is his relative. I’ve reported this at CPS,Ref GEF 60/2022 for it to be on record.”the tweet read

Members of Parliament on the Parliamentary Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises – COSASE are investigating the airlines for corruption and financial loss in billions of shillings.

Preliminary findings of the Committee indicate that the Airlines Chief Executive Officer – CEO, Jenifer Bamuturaki, and other senior officers lack integrity and prerequisite academic qualifications to manage the national flagship and cargo carrier.

While questioning Uganda Airlines officials, the Committee discovered that the Board unlawfully endorsed the appointment of Bamuturaki by President Yoweri Museveni in July 2022, disregarding a competitive process for the selection of the ideal CEO through a consultancy firm, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, which was irregularly terminated.

The Committee also discovered that prior to her presidential appointment as CEO, Bamuturaki, as the Commercial Director, and doubling as the Contracts Manager connived with the former CEO Ephraim Kalyebara Bagenda to exclusively solicit for Abbavater Group Limited to undertake public relations work for the Airlines without competitive bidding process.

This led to the award of USD 540,000 (about 2.067 billion Shillings) service contract to the Abbavater Group which without following the procedures of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets – PPDA Act of 2003.

Both Bamuturaki and Kalyebara were handed to the CID on Thursday as investigations have been launched into the matter.