KAMPALA –When Fufa president, Moses Magogo threatened to withdrawal Uganda’s U-23 team from next year’s African Nations Championship –Chan competition, not many could competently tell the form of politics the Budiope East MP was playing.
Well, the trick was simple – conveying a message to the President of Uganda – Yoweri Museveni, notifying him how the Finance Ministry was frustrating the sports sub sector – football in particular. And yes – the communication reached its desired destination in a flash.
For starters, the Parliament of Uganda had earlier, this financial year, through a resolution, passed a specific budget for Fufa – the local football governing body, communicating the same to the National Council of Sports – NCS through the Clerk.
It should be noted that Magogo and Speaker Annet Anita Among are officially married, although junior Minister Persis Namuganza (MP) insists that the duo’s marital status is a hoax, to possibly hoodwink the unsuspecting public. Namuganza’s contentions aside, already fruits of the ‘marriage’ are visible.
“And it’s one of the reasons, the Speaker (AAA), ordered for an inquiring into the operations of Council, especially the alleged mismanagement of funds,” revealed a source well conversant with the manoeuvres of the August House, adding that the target is to throw out the body’s General Secretary, Dr Patrick Ogwel as a punishment for his arrogance.
“Have you observed how everybody who appears before the Parliament Select Committee pins the secretariat?” reasoned our source.
The latest to appear and pin Ogwel was Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa, who on Thursday tasked to the Committee to summon athletes from different sporting disciplines to appear and share their views.
Basalirwa appeared as one of the key witnesses in the on-going inquiry. He was one of the MPs who reported before the House, inconsistencies in appropriated figures by Parliament and released to the sports sub-sector. The MPs had also questioned the criteria in appropriating money to different sporting disciplines, sparking off a heated debate that prompted the Speaker to direct for an inquiry.
“You will be shocked, you will understand their (athletes) challenges with the Council and the sports federations,” said Basalirwa, adding that the financial crisis in the sports sub-sector was responsible for the ‘withdrawal’ of the National Football team (U-23) from the 2023 Chan competition scheduled next year in Algeria.
Basalirwa described the withdrawal as an international embarrassment, claiming it would lead to Uganda’s drop in the Fifa rankings.
“How can we withdraw from continental competition? This story and that of She Cranes in Australia would be a big international embarrassment.
“The Finance Ministry is becoming a very big obstacle to the sports sub-sector, Parliament appropriates money but the ministry makes budget cuts, which is unconstitutional,” he said.
Basalirwa also blamed the NCS for failing to release funds to the different sports federations as appropriated by Parliament.
But, Amos Lugoloobi, the Minister of State for Planning, was quick to reveal to the Select Committee how at least 36.8 per cent of the budget appropriated to the sector, had been released.
He clarified that the Finance Ministry had released Ugx17.61b to NCS to facilitate wages and the various sports federation.
He added that an additional Ugx2b out of the required Ugx6b had been released to Fufa to allow the U-23 team participate in the next year’s Chan.
Lugoloobi noted that the country needed to prioritise certain sporting disciplines for better funding.
