By Olivia Nabaggala
Uganda’s Aviation has scored 72.2% in the international civil Aviation Organisation ICAO’s safety Audit that was carried out by the universal safety oversight audit programme- continuous monitoring Approach (USOAP-CMA) from 6th -18th September 2023.
The audit was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of Ugandans safety oversight systems in compliance with the ICAO standards and Recommended practices (SARPs).
The result indicate an overall improvement in the safety performance of Uganda ranking it above the Eastern and southern Africa region average of 55.7% and global average of 67.7% which indicates a vote of confidence in Uganda’s aviation safety system since it complies with the ICAO standards.
The 72.2% score was reached at after an assessment of Uganda’s effective implementation of the 8 critical elements of the state safety oversight system as well as the status of compliance with the ICAO SARPs in the el8 audit areas that include primary legislation, organisation, personnel licensing, Flight operations, Airworthiness, Aircraft Accident investigation, Air Navigation services and Aerodrome and Ground Aids.
While releasing the outcome of the audit, the minister of state for transport Fred Byamukama urged the regulator and the industry stakeholders to maintain the momentum that was exhibited during the onsite audit with the intent to retain the consistency in the oversight responsibilities.
The last audit conducted by ICAO on Uganda’s safety was in 2014 and Uganda scored 62%.
ICAO conducts such audits every after six years and if Uganda had not passed the audit, the country’s score would have been below that of the global and regional average which could lead to loss of confidence in the country’s aviation system.
