MBARARA, Uganda — A company that promised to build an aviation academy in western Uganda failed to deliver on that pledge five years after signing a deal with the government, according to an internal investigation. The failure raises fresh questions about the capacity of the same company now central to a far larger project: a planned international airport that President Yoweri Museveni says could be one of the world’s largest.
The government signed a five-year memorandum of understanding in March 2020 with Base 7 International Aviation Academy, known as B7IAA, to explore establishing a flight training academy at Nyakisharara aerodrome, about 10 kilometers from Mbarara city center. The agreement envisioned classrooms, hangars and a pipeline of Ugandan pilots and aviation engineers trained locally rather than abroad.
That same aerodrome is now at the center of a far more ambitious plan.
The Mega-Airport Shift
Museveni has directed the government to fast-track construction of an international airport at Nyakisharara, describing it as a future refueling and transit hub linking Brazil and China. He argues the project could help triple Uganda’s economic output.
In a letter to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, the president instructed ministries including Works and Transport, Lands, Finance, and the Attorney General’s chambers to support a company called Base Seven in implementing what he called a mega transport project. Base Seven operates B7IAA and has presented itself as the lead Ugandan partner in a wider consortium that includes a Chinese construction firm, a Chinese design institute, and a United Kingdom-registered financing partner.
The Ground Reality
An investigation by the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority found no evidence that B7IAA had built the academy it promised under its earlier, smaller agreement. Investigators who visited the site on Jan. 25, 2024, described the academy premises as abandoned with no evidence of any activity taking place, according to their report.
The probe was triggered in July 2023, when another company, Rose Partners, submitted a proposal to develop Mbarara Aerodrome. That offer left the ministry and the aviation authority unable to consider a new developer without first determining whether B7IAA had met its obligations under the existing memorandum. After consulting the Attorney General’s office, the ministry ordered an audit of B7IAA’s performance.
A technical team from the ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority — comprising Nelson Rwenaga, Edmand Kalende and Robert Kisakye from the ministry, and Sam Wonekha and Fred Tuliraba from the regulator — interviewed eight witnesses from both B7IAA and the aviation authority. These included B7IAA’s former lead instructor, Viola Kalembe, and aviation security staff members Benon Mutungi and Ronald Ayebazibwe.
Investigators found B7IAA had not installed instructional equipment, aircraft or aircraft parts for training purposes, and had not established a library, physical or virtual, despite that being a core requirement for an aviation academy.
Regulatory and Capacity Doubts
The regulatory record was similarly thin. The aviation authority had licensed B7IAA only to offer a Flight Operations Officers’ course. Company officials told investigators they had trained and graduated 10 students under that license — a claim B7IAA director David Magaga Kamanya repeated in an interview with NTV-Uganda.
The school started, Kamanya said, and we trained some students who even graduated. In that regard, there was success. Kamanya spoke publicly more than a month after being contacted for this story, marking his first comments since the start of this investigative series.
The findings echo broader doubts raised about the airport project itself. Uganda’s Parliament has questioned whether Base Seven has the technical and financial capacity to deliver a project of the scale Museveni has proposed — two runways of 5.5 kilometers each plus a reserve runway — prompting pushback from project supporters who have urged lawmakers not to delay it.
Separate reporting on the consortium has also raised questions about some of its partners. The registered address of one listed project consultant, Hamster Business Solutions, could not be located at its listed premises in Kampala. Furthermore, neither that firm nor the consortium’s UK-based financing partner, Blackrock Uwekeza, has a publicly listed website.
The Original Vision
B7IAA was first registered with the Ugandan government in July 2019, presenting itself as an affiliate of 360 Aviation, an accredited South African aviation training institution. The company proposed building a full aviation facility at Nyakisharara covering air operations, a flight training academy, a maintenance facility and other aviation disciplines.
Officials said the idea had clear appeal for a country that sends many aviation trainees abroad at high cost. A local academy, proponents argued, could cut foreign-exchange outflows, create jobs and give the aviation authority a partner in building technical capacity.
The Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Works and Transport approved the initiative, and the memorandum was signed on March 17, 2020. Then-Works and Transport Minister Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala and then-Civil Aviation Authority Director General David Mpango Kakuba signed on behalf of the government. B7IAA was represented by Chief Executive Tamryn Van Staden and director Ham Kamuntu.
Under the agreement, the government committed to providing land for the academy, approving its use for project facilities, granting B7IAA rights to use the aerodrome and lobbying for tax incentives where applicable. B7IAA, in turn, committed to establishing the academy, securing regulatory approvals, supplying financial and technical resources, issuing shares to the government as investment when required, and providing proof of its partnership with 360 Aviation.
For three years, the agreement drew little public scrutiny. That changed with the 2023 proposal from Rose Partners, which forced officials to confront whether B7IAA had delivered on commitments that, by the investigators’ account, existed largely on paper. This track record is now drawing renewed attention as the same company seeks government backing for a multibillion-dollar airport.
