Panic has griped senior officials at Entebbe International Airport after President Museveni ordered their sacking for hiring the unqualified employees, which he attributed to massive corruption in Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) .
In this recruitment scandal ,a total of 152 staff members are likely to be affected .
According to Mr Museveni , the staff members in question secured their jobs through corruption, which has led to “serious inefficiencies” at Entebbe International Airport.
“I have received information that there is massive corruption in the UCAA in terms of a number of aspects, including recruiting unqualified people for employment there. As a consequence, serious inefficiencies cause problems that must not be allowed to continue.
One glaring, embarrassing problem was, for instance, for Maama Maria Nyerere, being trapped in an archaic lift for four minutes. Some investigation was carried out, and 152 unqualified staff were identified. All these must be sacked, and so should those who recruited them. I demand immediate action,” President Museveni’s letter addressed to Works and Transport Minister, Gen Edward Katumba Wamala reads.
The June 25, 2025 letter, a copy of which was seen by this publication, is also copied to the Vice President Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja and the First Lady, who serves as the Minister of Education and Sports, among others. This is not the first time reports of corruption have been reported in UCAA.
In January,2023 multiple videos of Ugandans complaining about cases of harassment—including hooking people off planes, removing travel documents and extortion of travellers who use the airport—went viral on social media platforms
The external labour desk of the Labour ministry was caught in the eye of the storm, with most travellers accusing its staff of being masterminds behind the illegal acts. It was alleged that some of the illegal acts resulted in some people missing out on their flights.
The viral videos—most of which were populated on Twitter and TikTok—triggered a public furor that compelled the ombudsman to launch an investigation.
The UCAA also launched a parallel investigation headed by Brig Kisame. We understand that it was that internal investigation that culminated in the decisions to throw the litany of check-out desks from the airport and slap a suspension on operations of the yellow fever desks.