On January 8, the Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF) went to the polls to elect office bearers. Hadija Namanda edged Joseph Odong and Eddie Okila to the top UVF job and will have the mantle of leading the sport through the next four years.
While Okila does not intend to contest the election outcome, he insists that the poll was rigged and predicts further turmoil for the sport under the new executive. In a recent interview with NDYAMUHAKI EMANZI, he accuses former UVF president Sadik Nasiwu of rigging the election for Namanda.
What was your plan for volleyball when you decided to stand for presidency?
I wanted to provide leadership in the federation because that is what is lacking at the moment. The federation needs a transformational leadership which can allow the structures to operate. I had a nine-point programme that was going to move volleyball and become the most appreciated sport in Uganda.
It included lobbying for funds, increasing the game’s presence in the media, widening the audience of both regular and beach volleyball, signing national, regional, continental and global partnerships to ensure financial stability and securing health insurance for players.
What next for you?
My focus for now will be to try and grow the game at grassroot level. Volleyball at schools is dead and needs to be given serious attention. I know there is a group of people taking the federation to court but I’m not part of them.
Will you support Namanda and her team?
I like to keep my integrity and I can’t support a person who is holding office illegally. The only way I can support her is if she steps down to let the game have leaders who are not just planted into the federation to satisfy a few individuals, and not the game.
How do you compare the state of affairs in volleyball to other sports disciplines in the country?
It is difficult to explain. The game is not at the level where we would have loved to see it after eight years of a regime. The quality of the game is dead and the federation has no guiding principles. Volleyball is just on its knees at the moment and needs ambitious leaders.
What are the problems hindering the development of volleyball?
The biggest challenges in volleyball are corruption and lack of accountability. The executive has deliberately refused to let the constitution guide us and that has brought about all these problems. There is also bad blood amongst clubs with people in different camps clashing because of their big egos.
How would you assess Sadik Nasiwu’s reign?
The only achievement the regime made is the training of coaches and referees. Apart from that, everything has been on decline and volleyball will need a lot of work to get back on the right track.
What we have had in the last eight years is leadership without direction, lack of accountability, lack of functional structures and the game has basically not grown from where the regime found it to another level.
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