Uganda Air Cargo planeParliament has summoned the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Jacob Oboth, to explain circumstances under which Uganda Air Cargo Corporation was bound into a joint venture agreement with a United Arab Emirates firm, Alpha MBM DWC-LLC, without the Corporation being party or signing the agreement, risking its license in the aviation sector.Medard Sseggona, chairperson Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), who issued the summons, informed journalists that the Minister is expected to clarify on issues surrounding the Ministry’s interference in the operations of Uganda Air Cargo Corporation and the failure to pay the money owed to the Corporation for transporting Ugandan troops to Somalia.“Yes, we did invite the Minister of Defence to shed light on the joint agreement between Alpha HMBA Aviation, the United Arab Emirates company with Government of Uganda represented by the Ministry of Defence. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to meet with him, he informed us that he would like to reschedule the meeting which we have done, so we hope to see him next week on 29th July 2025, to clarify on this joint venture which we have been told, one of the partners has defaulted upon by not providing the requisite aircrafts that were envisaged in the agreement,” noted Sseggona.The upcoming meeting with the Ministry of Defence followed a revelation made by Nakibus Lakara, General Manager of UACC that the Ministry of Defense signed a controversial joint venture between UACC and Alpha MBM DWC-LLC, under the guise of capitalising the Corporation, without consulting the Board and Management of Uganda Air Cargo Corporation. This revelation irked MPs who wondered why the Ministry whose mandate solely lies in making policies was interfering in the affairs of Uganda Air Cargo.The Committee further learnt that the joint venture didn’t yield any benefits for Ugandan taxpayers, but instead, the private company provided only one plane out of the promised seven and went on to take possession of the single cargo plane they had provided.Sseggona defended the summons noting, “So we don’t want to dig deeper into the details of the agreement that hasn’t been availed to us, hopefully by that time we shall have a copy of that joint venture agreement, and we would be able to interrogate its clauses. Of course, one of the glaring clauses is that one of the intended parties is the Uganda Air Cargo Corporation which wasn’t involved in the signing and therefore never signed it, so one wonders, what happens if there was a breach, whether Uganda Air Cargo can sue or be sued.”The probe into the controversial joint agreement followed queries raised by the Auditor General, Edward Akol who faulted the Corporation for the slow rate of recovery of receivables, arguing that although best practice requires that an entity institutes debt recovery mechanisms that ensure debts are recovered promptly to avoid tying working capital in debts, a review of the financial statements revealed that the entity had outstanding receivables worth UGX20.75Bn as at 30th June, 2024, out of which debtors worth UGX.8.17Bn (39%) have been outstanding for a period of over five years.The committee was further dismayed to discover that UACC owes UGX38 billion to government agencies, including UGX 29 billion owed by the Ministry of Defence for transporting troops to Somalia and other countries, wondering how the same entity can seek funding for recapitalisation from Government, yet they have failed to collect money from people they provided services to.The post Ministry of Defence On The Spot Over Controversial Aircraft Deal For Uganda Air Cargo appeared first on Business Focus.