Uganda Airlines Launches Search for New Chief Executive Officer

Uganda Airlines has begun a process of searching for a new Chief Executive officer. In a message to her staff, the current CEO of Uganda Airlines encouraged her staff who meet the required qualification to apply for the position of Chief Executive Officer of Uganda airlines which the board will advertise soon.

The move to fire Jenifer Bamuturaki as Uganda Airlines CEO was instigated by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni following a series of financial scandals and governance failures. The decisive moment came during a heated September 2025 State House meeting where Museveni, dissatisfied with management’s explanations, ordered her to leave the meeting. This was triggered by audit findings revealing massive revenue leakages, including over $9.2 million in unaccounted passenger fees and a ticketing scheme where staff-linked agencies controlled over 90% of discounted tickets. A formal criminal investigation is now underway for abuse of office and embezzlement. The leadership change marks a critical reset for the taxpayer-funded national carrier.

President Yoweri Museveni’s dismissal of Uganda Airlines CEO Jenifer Bamuturaki culminates from mounting governance crises and a damning special audit at the national carrier, now the subject of a criminal investigation.

The final breach of confidence occurred during a closed-door State House meeting in September 2025. Confronted with a pattern of unresolved audit warnings and financial irregularities, a charged President Museveni ordered Bamuturaki to leave the room, stating, “Go away, I don’t want to see you.” Sources present confirmed the President’s loss of faith in her leadership, effectively sealing her fate.

Systemic Scandals and Missing Millions

A special audit reviewed at the meeting uncovered severe financial mismanagement:

• Unaccounted Revenue: More than $9.2 million (approx. Shs 35 billion) collected from a passenger service fee—after it was officially scrapped in July 2023—was never banked, raising misappropriation concerns.
• Ticketing Conflict of Interest: Agencies linked to airline staff, including Nyanza Tours and Travel, controlled over 90% of deeply discounted ticket classes, suppressing airline revenue and blatantly breaching conflict-of-interest rules.
• Disputed Procurement: Fleet procurement decisions, fuel supply contracts, and aircraft leasing arrangements were all flagged as areas of potential abuse and financial leakage.

Formal Criminal Investigation

The leadership shake-up now coincides with an active police probe. In a January 2026 letter, the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), liaising with the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, announced it is investigating “abuse of office, embezzlement of funds and false accounting” at the airline. CID has demanded extensive records, including procurement files for Boeing aircraft, contracts with ticketing agents, and all revenue accounting records.

A National Symbol in Crisis

President Museveni’s intervention reflects deep frustration that governance failures persisted at the young, taxpayer-funded airline despite repeated warnings. For Uganda Airlines—relaunched in 2019 as a symbol of national pride—this marks a critical and turbulent reset. The board has been instructed to advertise the CEO position anew, while investigators work to determine the full extent of losses and assign responsibility.

Bamuturaki, who has previously denied wrongdoing, asserting her actions were in line with business development plans, has not issued a new detailed public response to the latest allegations.