Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has ordered all legislators and staff of parliament to use Uganda Airlines as long as their destinations fall into the zones where the Airlines operates.
It is alleged that since Uganda Airlines made its maiden flight on August 26, few MPs and government officials have flown the national carrier yet while welcoming the first two Bombadier CRJ 900 planes at Entebbe in April, President Museveni called upon all his officials to support it.
In a move to enforce the President’s orders, Kadaga on October 16, wrote a letter to the Clerk of Parliament Jane Kibirige, ordering her that all MPs and staff as long as they are on the official duty, must use Uganda Airlines.
“As you may be aware that Uganda Airlines is now operational. The Parliamentary Commission needs to support the National Carrier. I, therefore, write to instruct you to ensure that all official trips of the Members of Parliament and the Staff of Parliament while on official duty to destinations where the Airline operates are scheduled with Uganda Airlines,” she wrote.
Her orders come one month after the Minister of state for works Gen. Katumba Wamala asked Ugandans to support their airline instead of bashing and de-campaigning it through social media.
Among the people, he called upon to lead by example were the government officials, authorities such as Uganda Revenue Authority and business stakeholders that always travel within the region.
“I want to thank the public for showing keen interest and love for the airline and the pilots for returning to serve their nation. However, in the same spirit, I urged the public to stop being negative instead have some nationalism towards their national airline. We should love our country,” said Katumba.
Currently, the Airlines boasts four Bombardier CRJ900s. However only two are flying to the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Juba, Bujumbura, and Mogadishu. The other two are being cleared to start their commercial fights soon.
According to Cornwell Muleya, the Chief Executive Officer Uganda Airlines, they’ll soon expand their route map and fly to DRC, Zanzibar, Asmara, Hargeisa, Lusaka, Harare, Johannesburg, Djibouti, and Addis Ababa, and plan to make international flights connecting Uganda to Europe, the Middle East, West Africa and Asia.
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