Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Hon Tom Butime has dismissed allegations that he issued threats to Hon Joel Ssenyonyi, the Nakawa West Member of Parliament.
Hon Ssenyonyi, who is also the chairperson of the parliamentary committee currently investigating the top leadership of Uganda Airlines, claims Minister Butime called him on Saturday and warned him to back off the probe.
“Yesterday, I got a call from Tourism Minister Tom Butime, threatening and intimidating me over Uganda Airlines probe, because apparently Jennifer Bamuturaki is his relative,” Ssenyonyi said on Sunday.
Ssenyonyi also revealed that he reported the said threats to the Kampala Central Police Station under case number GEF 60/2022. “No one, I repeat, one will cause me to back down,” he added.
But when contacted shortly after the allegations came out, Minister Mutime denied Ssenyonyi’s claims saying he nearly held a brief conversation with him.
“I simply called him and we talked, I did not issue any threats to him,” Hon Butime said.
The Minister however, declined to give details about the conversation he had with the Nakawa MP.
Ssenyonyi’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) last week kicked off an investigation into the operations of the national carrier, with focus on its CEO, Mrs Jennifer Bamuturaki and the circumstances under which was appointed to head the airline.
In the three back to back hearings, the committee established among others that Mrs Batumuraki did not have the required academic papers needed for the CEO job On Thursday, the Committee handed Mrs Bamuturaki to the parliamentary police to make a statement, for making contradictory comments during the hearing.
