Last Wednesday, September 10, President Museveni hosted the Uganda Cranes team that took part in the just-concluded Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) at State House, Entebbe.
Museveni, who treated the team to a state dinner, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to further investment in sports infrastructure and athlete welfare. He used this function to fulfill his earlier pledge of Shs 2.4 billion for the team’s two victories during the CHAN Pamoja tournament and the money was wired directly to the players’ and officials’ bank accounts.
Unlike previous meetings with athletes, Museveni, who was flanked by the first lady and minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataaha Museveni, was in a rare jovial mood, unlike before at such events. Besides his disclosure of the army tactics that he imparted to the team, which he summoned to Nakasero state house after the team’s 0-3 defeat at the hands of Algeria in their opening match at Mandela National Stadium, he vowed to continue investing more in sports.
All said and done, Museveni’s support for Ugandan athletes is a good and major building block, but his generosity should not be a one-off affair; it should be the beginning of better things to come. Unfortunately, our sports administrators have, over time, failed to use platforms like that of September 10 to garner future support from the government.
During such high-profile parties held for victorious athletes, sports officials normally deceive the President into believing that sport is improving, instead of speaking their minds.
In fact, some officials prefer to tell the President what he wants to hear or speak about their areas of interest. Over the past decade or so, a few sports disciplines such as football, athletics, basketball and rugby have somehow improved. However, poor funding and less government support has led to the collapse of disciplines such as boxing, handball, volleyball and tennis, among others.
So, it is wrong for government officials to wait and recognize the need for sup port only after success. Sometimes I wonder; is the president aware that out of the more than 50 sports disciplines under National Council of Sports (NCS), less than 15 remain competitive?
Why don’t NCS officials come out to say that the Shs 47bn which government allocates to the entity is just 52% of the projected Shs 90bn budget? Matters are not helped by the fact that out of the Shs 47bn, Shs 17bn is ring-fenced for Fufa only.
This leaves NCS and the other 49 federations and association to share the remaining Sh30b. Besides Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF), Federation of Motorsport Club of Uganda (FMU) and Uganda Paralympic Committee (UPC) the other federations get below Shs 1bn.
As a result, some federations and associations cannot operate annual leagues while others have slimmed their formats to suit their respective budgets. When it comes to Fufa and the Uganda Premier League clubs standoff, it is clear the two entities are locked in a wrangle about the new league format.
None of the entities is ready to cede ground. In netball, the situation is even worse. First, the federation’s Shs 300m annual contribution from NCS is just 9% of their budget. As a result, the body’s super women league in run in a `gala’ like format. So, netball teams converge at Hamz stadium every weekend to play one or two matches.
This is ridiculous, a league is supposed to be played on different netball courts around the country. Spare a thought for Greater Lions of Busia and UGX-Luweero, the only two upcountry teams, who have to travel to Kampala every week to honour their respective league games in Kampala.
As if that’s not bad enough, non-institutional clubs survive on handouts and some of them are contemplating to withdraw from the league, something which might affect the national team and talent development.
The disciplines of basketball, handball and volleyball, among others aren’t fairing any better. I can go on and on but it all goes back to poor funding of sports in the country. So, much as government came up with the new sports law (National Sports Law 2023), it has met stiff challenge due to some unsporting provisions which were not detected before it was sent to the president to assent.
What sports needs today is government’s full involvement in development through adequate funding and close supervision.