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Kampala seeking to return broke aviation school to EAC

Saturday August 02 2014
EAaviationschoolcc

Control tower at the East African Civil Aviation Academy in Soroti, eastern Uganda. Photo | Morgan Mbabazi

Burdened by obligations to fund the East African Civil Aviation Academy in Soroti, eastern Uganda, Kampala is seeking to return the institution to the East African Community.

Uganda took over the running of the school from the EAC following the collapse of the regional bloc in 1977, but is now struggling to finance the academy, which faces closure for flouting International Civil Aviation Organisation safety standards.

“We would wish that EACAA is taken back as an institution of the EAC; it was never started by us in the first place,” said Shem Bageine, Uganda’s Minister for EAC Affairs.

Uganda started the process of returning the institution to the EAC two years ago, and Mr Bageine said the Council of Ministers has now agreed to take it back.

On July 3, the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda announced that EACAA would be one of the designated aviation centres of excellence in the regional trading bloc. The only hurdle remaining is to designate it as one of the EAC’s institutions so that partner states can start contributing towards its funding. 

The Soroti aviation academy requires at least an extra Ush4.8 billion ($1.8 million) to continue running normally for the remainder of the year. The money is needed to pay for insurance for its aeroplanes, meet salary obligations and buy fuel.

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More money is also required to buy spare parts and pay runway fees. Under ICAO safety standards, these services are mandatory for training to carry on. The institution currently has more than 100 students.

But Tonny Kavuma, Uganda’s Assistant Commissioner in charge of Air Transport, said the Ministry of Works and Transport, under which the academy falls, does not receive adequate funds to finance all its departments, including the EACAA and the Civil Aviation Authority.  

At Ush2.5 trillion ($944.1 million), the ministry currently gets the highest budgetary allocation, but Mr Kavuma said that over 70 per cent of the money goes to the Uganda National Roads Authority, leaving the line ministry with barely enough to run its activities and spare some for institutions like the CAA and EACAA.

This financial year, EACAA will receive Ush6 billion ($2.3 million), but 80 per cent of the amount will be used to buy a twin engine aircraft that President Yoweri Museveni promised the institution last year.

But Ronald Lodiong, the aviation academy’s director, said that while a new twin engine aircraft is required, other critical functions of the institution, especially training, are often hampered by the lack of funds.

“Without this money, the students at our institution will have to stop their studies for a while, and this will increase our costs,” he said.

Because of poor funding, students at EACAA now spend seven years to complete courses that would otherwise take two-and-a-half years to complete. Courses taught at the academy include private pilot licence, commercial pilot licence, flight instructor, mechanical aircraft maintenance and electrical and avionics maintenance.

While a number of senior pilots from the EAC region were trained in Uganda, currently the majority now study in Kenya, which has more aviation training colleges that offer a variety of courses.

EACAA’s fee structure remains low compared with other aviation schools, adding to its funding challenges. Ugandan students at the academy pay Ush46.9 million ($18,000) while external trainees — currently either Burundian or Rwandan — pay Ush91.1 million ($35,000). Compared with the more than Ush130.2 million ($50,000) on average aviation students in Africa pay, this figure is low.

Poor funding has also cost EACAA the chance to make money from the region’s other students, Mr Lodiong says. Kenya Airways recently requested EACAA to train 400 of its students but this deal fell through after the inspection of the school’s facilities.

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