By Sadique Bamwita
BAMWITA
The East African member states inclusive Uganda met on September 1, 2025 to discuss how to deal with emerging technological innovations in the aviation sector and how best member states can catch up with these technologies.
The Director General Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, (UCAA), Mr. Fred Bamwesigye, said in order to catch up with the pace in technological advancement and improve on regulatory excellence, the East African member states through their regulatory body- Civil Aviation Safety Security and oversight agency have organized a training supported by Boeing and Cranfield University to train all players in the aviation sector.
“This is a big opportunity to bring people together to understand the parameters of our regulation in the aviation industry,” Mr. Bamwesigye stated.
While addressing the media, Bamwesigye, noted that in order to deal with challenges of unmanned aircrafts (drones) and cyber security, there is need to formulate a regulatory framework which is as fast as technological advancement.
“We are faced with a number of challenges including innovations in technology. But to catch up with this pace at a regulatory level given increased innovations in technology is a huge challenge,” he says.
He said that whereas, people can’t be stopped from using drones, there is need to regulate them which requires involvement of all key players in the aviation industry.
On the issue of aircraft accidents, Mr. Bamwesigye said as member states, they intend to create an independent aircraft investigations body which is not influenced by anyone but works independently with it’s own funding and officials.
“We are strengthening our structure to make sure the aircraft accident unit is independent. So, with many bodies like UCAA, Uganda Airlines, it becomes complicated to investigate when an aircraft accident occurs. To have easy investigations, we want a structure which is independent with all it’s own officials,” Mr. Bamwesigye revealed.
The Executive Director Civil Aviation Safety Security and oversight agency, Eng. Richard Gatete, noted that training officials from member states enables them to identify high risk areas .
On the issue of air fares in the East African region, Dr. Richard Gatete called upon member states within the region to work together to liberalize air transport.
Dr. Fabian Steinmann, a lecturer in organizational resilience and change at Cranfield University, said the training of players in the aviation sector is intended to shape and share basic practices with other regulators around the world.
The program manager at Boeing Global Learning Institute, Mr. Harry Chamwada, said his institute is dedicated to providing training and support to all aviation regulators and stakeholders so as to be able to improve on the aviation sector and to bring success to all member states under the East African community.
Mr. Chamwada added that besides the Civil Aviation safety security and oversight agency playing a key role in strengthening the oversight capabilities of the regulatory bodies, he wants to see that this body plays a role in enhancing economies of the region beyond safety and also improve on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the member states.
