Governance

The organs of the Agency are

  • the Board (governing body of the Agency),
  • the Secretariat (coordinate all activities within the scope of EAC CASSOA Protocol), and
  • Such other organs as the Board may consider necessary.

Currently, the Board has established 3 Technical Committees to facilitate the Agency undertake its mandate.

There are:

  1. Technical Committee – Regulatory (TC-R): responsible for all technical and regulatory matters relating to safety and security oversight;
  2. Technical Committee – Finance and Administration (TC – F & A):responsible for the administration and management of resources of the Agency;
  3. Technical Committee Audit and Risk :responsible for reviewing and considering the Agency’s risk management policies and the Agency’s Financial Statements prior to submission to the Council.

CASSOA is a self-accounting institution of the East African Community.

The Board of Directors consists of the Heads of Civil Aviation Authorities of the Partner States, one aviation expert from each Partner State nominated by the Minister responsible for civil aviation (this expert serves for a term of three years renewable only once), one representative from the East African Business Council and the Executive Director of CASSOA. The chairperson of the Board is one of the Heads of CAA for a period of one year and this position is held in rotation among the Partner States’ CAAs.

The Executive Director (ED) is appointed by the Council of Ministers on recommendation by the Board, on such terms and conditions as the Council may determine. The ED is the spokesperson of the Agency and principle liaison between the Partner States and CASSOA. The position of ED CASSOA is filled for a one term of five years on a competitive basis and under the principle of rotation among the Partner States. The ED also heads the Secretariat of the Agency.

Funding
The funds that run CASSOA’s activities are derived from:

  1. Contributions from the Partner States through their CAAs;
  2. Resources mobilized by the EAC Secretariat;
  3. Grants from regional and international development partners;
  4. Revenue from some of the activities of the Agency; and
  5. Any other sources as may be approved by the EAC Council of Ministers

Structure

At the apex of the CASSOA structure is the EAC Council of Ministers, to whom the Board reports. The Board is second in hierarchy under whom is the Executive Director of the Agency. The Agency has two directorates; one for technical functions (aviation standards and regulation) and the other for administration and financial functions. Each of the directorates is headed by a deputy Executive Director under the new approved structure of 2015.

Under the technical directorate are the following sections:

  1. Airworthiness
  2. Flight operations
  3. Air Navigation Services
  4. Aerodromes and Ground Aids
  5. Aviation Security
  6. Personnel licensing
  7. Aviation Meteorology
  8. Centre for Aviation Medicine

Under the administration and finance directorate are the following sections:

  1. Human Resource and Administration
  2. Finance
  3. Information Technology
  4. Office Management