Kampala — The government has summoned the manufacturers of the police helicopter that crashed on Monday, injuring Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi and five other people on board. Also summoned is a South African firm that was involved in the purchase, the State Minister for Internal Affairs, Mr Matia Kasaija, told Parliament yesterday.

Earlier, the Minister of Works and Transport, Eng. John Nasasira, told the parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure that he had instituted a committee to investigate the cause of the crash. The committee would seek to establish whether the accident was due to a technical fault or human error. "In two weeks we hope to finish up this investigation and issue a statement," he said.

Mr Nasasira said the committee comprises of senior technical officers from the Civil Aviation Authority, a flight engineer from the police, a representative of the helicopter manufacturers and officials from the works and transport ministry.

Perfect order

Mr Kasaija said the Augusta helicopter, which was manufactured in the United States of America, had been well maintained and was fully insured. He also told Parliament that the pilot had over 30 years' experience with over 2,300 flying hours on helicopters.

The summons followed a plenary discussion in which MPs questioned the mechanical state of the helicopter which was bought two years earlier. "Who goes shopping for these helicopters and where does he shop from?" asked Mr Abura Piriri (Matheniko). "Parliament asked the police to buy a new helicopter. We need to do our investigations well and find out if they did not dupe us and bought an old machine," added MP Bihande Yowasi (Bukonjo).

The police helicopter, which was bought in 2008, was involved in an incident in Arua last year that eyewitnesses described as a crash landing but which Minister Kasaija, who was on board, described as a scheduled refuelling stop.

Prof. Nsibambi was flying back to Kampala from Lwakhaka, on the border with Kenya, after receiving 150 tonnes of food aid from the Nairobi government to the victims of last week's landslide in Bududa. A police spokesman said the aircraft started swirling in the sky, hit a tree and crashed with a thud on the ground inside the premises of Bugiri Hospital.