Parliament has approved the government’s supplementary schedule for an additional Shs280bn to cater for investment costs for the revival of Uganda Airlines.
Chaired by Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, the House adopted the Budget committee report to avail Shs280bn as development expenditure to Ministry of Works and Transport for the purpose of purchasing aircraft for the Uganda National Airlines Company Limited, the Kampala Post reports.
This comes after the planes’ manufacturer gave Uganda Airlines an ultimatum of up to end of March to clear costs of the first batch of the two Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft that are ready for delivery amounting to $41.5m (Over Shs153bn).
According to the Purchase Agreement, Bombardier may terminate the contract if the buyer (Uganda Airlines) is in default or breach of any payment obligation which continues for 14 days calendar days beyond the due date of such payment obligation.
The request was however not passed without a fight from opposition MPs who backed the minority report that highlighted controversies regarding the ownership of the Airlines. This comes after Works minister Ntege Azuba submitted wrong documents in regard to registration of Uganda Airlines before admitting that there were errors in the registration process.
As a safety measure, the MPs also adopted committee recommendation on transferring the ownership of Uganda Airlines to the Uganda Development Corporation which is the business arm of government as provided under the Uganda Development Corporation Act 2016.
MPs also approved the request of Shs12bn for payment of ground rent arrears to the Catholic Church for land leased to the Uganda Police Force to enable the completion of Namugongo Shrine.
Controversy
On Wednesday, Members of Parliament learnt that the ownership of Uganda Airlines, which is being revived by the government, was shrouded in mystery.
In its report on a Supplementary Appropriation Bill for Parliament’s consideration, the Committee on Budget said government owned a paltry two out of 2 million shares leaving over 1.9 million shares in the hands of unknown individuals.
The schedule before Parliament included Shs280b to be paid for the first batch of the Bombardier CRJ900aircrafts to be used by the national carrier.
Committee Chairperson, Amos Lugoloobi, spelled doom with the revelation.
“The government of Uganda has injected approximately US$29.9 million into this company but has only two shares,” said Lugoloobi.
He added: “The current investment in the company does not match the authorised share capital of the company.”
But in a twist of events, Works and Transport Minister, Hon Monica Azuba now said as at 26 March 2019, the company is wholly owned by the government.
Azuba dismissed earlier claims that a shadowy hand is pushing the government to revive the airlines, where the public would not have a stake. She said her Ministry and that of Finance are the only shareholders as at Tuesday’s allocations.