Cicero
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 20, 2016
- 2,924
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A young and promising Ugandan pilot working in Kenya is on the verge of losing his job since the aviation authorities are declining to endorse his employment.
Captain Ronald Denis D'Ujanga, a South Africa-trained pilot has been hired by airliner Fly540 since mid-2016, but the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is refusing to give him a letter of no objection in order to allow him work freely.
In order to formalise his employment, Fly540 chief executive officer, Don E. Smith, on April 28, 2017 wrote to the KCAA for a letter of no objection, a process that is supposed to be a formality since Captain D'Ujanga qualifies for work as a pilot in Kenya.
The KCAA then advised Fly540 to "source for personnel from the local market in compliance with the requirements of the Aeronautical Information Circular No. 6/2003 of 29th May 2003.
Interestingly, the letter bases the denial decision on a 2003 law contrary to the East African Common Market Protocol to which Kenya became a signatory in 2010.
The East African Common Market Protocol, which Uganda signed in 2015, allows workers from any partner state to take up employment within any other EAC country. Rwanda is another signatory to the protocol. Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan are yet to sign it. The protocol prescribes that a worker from any partner state cannot be discriminated against on the basis of their nationality.
Captain Ronald Denis D'Ujanga, a South Africa-trained pilot has been hired by airliner Fly540 since mid-2016, but the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is refusing to give him a letter of no objection in order to allow him work freely.
In order to formalise his employment, Fly540 chief executive officer, Don E. Smith, on April 28, 2017 wrote to the KCAA for a letter of no objection, a process that is supposed to be a formality since Captain D'Ujanga qualifies for work as a pilot in Kenya.
The KCAA then advised Fly540 to "source for personnel from the local market in compliance with the requirements of the Aeronautical Information Circular No. 6/2003 of 29th May 2003.
Interestingly, the letter bases the denial decision on a 2003 law contrary to the East African Common Market Protocol to which Kenya became a signatory in 2010.
The East African Common Market Protocol, which Uganda signed in 2015, allows workers from any partner state to take up employment within any other EAC country. Rwanda is another signatory to the protocol. Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan are yet to sign it. The protocol prescribes that a worker from any partner state cannot be discriminated against on the basis of their nationality.
