The East African council of
ministers has given the secretariat a green light to reclaim the former regional
aviation academy in Soroti, eastern Uganda.
Uganda took over the 48-year
old East African Civil Aviation Academy (EACAA), famous as Soroti Flying School, after the collapse of the
former EAC in 1977.
But, the cash-strapped academy is now a shadow of what it was, with key
infrastructures being in dilapidated state, prompting a closure threat for flouting an ICAO’s safety standards.
However,
the 32nd meeting of the EAC council of ministers sympathized with the
academy’s sorrow state, sanctioning its transfer to be an institution of the
EAC.
“EAC
secretary general should submit a proposal for the re-instatement of the Soroti
Flying School to the 12nd Sectoral Council on Transport, Communications and Meteorology,”
reads part of the report.
The
council further directed the EAC SG to report progress in its 33rd
meeting, the document indicates.
It
is understood; the negotiations between the EAC and Uganda over the imminent
transfer of the academy have been concluded, with the latter approving the move
unconditionally.
“We have agreed wholeheartedly
that Soroti Flying School to be taken back as an institution of the EAC. After
all that is where it was originally belonged to” Uganda’s Minister for EAC
Affairs, Shem Bageine said.
On July 3, 2014 the Presidents
of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame conceived
an idea of designating the EACAA as one of the aviation centres of excellence
in the EAC.
However, they underlined the
need to make it as one of the EAC’s institutions first in a bid to start
enjoying budget from the regional body, before designating it as the centre of
excellence in aviation studies.
The EAC SG, Dr. Richard
Sezibera confirms that upon re-instatement to the academy will have access to
funds from EAC development partners.
However, Dr. Sezibera warns,
the school must be run as an autonomous institution of the EAC in order to
benefit from the restructuring.
The EACAA’s Acting Director, Ronald Lodiong cites
the modernization of infrastructure, enhancing of the training curricula and
the commissioning of a study by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) as key measures necessary towards the sustainability and revitalization
of the Academy.
The institution, which has a capacity of training
108 students, offers wide scope training for commercial and private piloting,
flight instructors and airport maintenance engineering among others.
In 1967, the former East African Authority
Presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda agreed to establish the East African
civil aviation school at Soroti in Uganda, following the latter’s offer of the
premises to host the academy.
As it happened, the institution was dully built
at Soroti airfield and admitted the first bunch of students in September 1971.
The main objective of setting up the school was
to transfer aviation skills from the expatriate staff to pre-independence and
immediate post-independence local people to meet the manpower demands of the
regional aviation industry, mainly that of East African Airways.
During its hey days, the Soroti flying school was
an acclaimed global training centre for aviation technical personnel.
Unfortunately, the academy has in recent years
been struggling with budget shortfalls and a shortage of aircraft and other
equipment needed to train students better and restore the erstwhile shine of
those years, when many of today’s senior pilots in East Africa actually learned
to fly and got their first wings with a PPL from Soroti, before graduating
further with a CPL and then going abroad to attain their ATPL’s.
A Tanzanian renowned pilot, Captain Phillemon
Kisamo says that for the academy to restore its old glory it needs to become an
ICAO TRAINAIR PLUS member.
“This would enable graduates of the academy to be
waived from the requirement of being evaluated or have their certificates
validated by members of TRAINAIR PLUS” Captain Kisamo explained.
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