KAMPALA — The hammer has fallen.
Works and Transport Minister Fred Byamukama has ordered the immediate sacking of Uganda Airlines Chief Finance Officer Allan Kyeyune, accusing him of holding one of the most sensitive jobs in the national carrier without the requisite qualifications.
In a blunt November 6 letter to Uganda Airlines Chief Executive Officer Girma Wake, Byamukama says he can no longer look away after the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) disowned Kyeyune.
The Institute, according to the minister, confirmed that Kyeyune has never been a Certified Public Accountant — the basic legal requirement for anyone to sit as a Chief Finance Officer in Uganda.
“I have also done my underground check and I am informed that for someone to become a chief finance officer at Uganda Airlines, they must be a certified professional accountant here in Uganda,” Byamukama wrote.
That one line has now exploded into a full-blown crisis at the airline.
The controversy did not start with the minister. In a letter dated August 10, 2026, addressed to the Uganda Airlines CEO, ICPAU Chief Executive Officer Derrick Nkajja had already raised the red flag.
“Upon reviewing our register, we found that Kyeyune is not a member of ICPAU, as required by law. We, therefore, highlight this matter to you for your action,” Nkajja wrote.
In other words, the professional body that regulates accountants in Uganda says Kyeyune is not on its register. Not suspended. Not inactive. Not a member at all.
Yet he was entrusted with the finances of Uganda Airlines — a public airline that has swallowed billions of shillings in taxpayer money, that has been dogged by audit queries, procurement scandals and questions about its survival.
How, critics are now asking, did a man who allegedly lacks the mandatory professional qualification rise to the top of the finance department? Who recruited him? Who cleared him? Who protected him while ICPAU was sounding the alarm?
Byamukama’s order is being seen as a direct challenge to the airline’s top management. For months, the August letter from ICPAU was reportedly gathering dust. The minister now wants action — immediate action — not another committee, not another investigation, not another delay.
Sources close to the ministry say Byamukama was furious that Uganda Airlines continued to keep Kyeyune in office even after the regulator had spoken.
“This is a national carrier. You cannot play games with public funds and professional standards,” one source said.
For Kyeyune, the order is a brutal public humiliation. For Wake and the board, it is a test of whether they will obey the minister or dig in and defend an appointment that is now being publicly questioned.
Uganda Airlines has not yet issued a public response to the sacking order.
But one thing is clear: the days of quiet letters and silent warnings are over. The minister has gone public, the regulator has spoken, and the finance boss is now fighting for his job.
If the ICPAU position stands, Kyeyune’s tenure at the airline may go down as one of the most embarrassing appointments in the history of Uganda’s public enterprises — and the questions will not stop at his sacking.
