I also noted that Obua brought on board some fresh faces such as George William Galiwango, Stephen Asiimwe, the former CEO of Uganda Tourism Board, former cricketer Paul Luswata and journalist Mark Ssali, among others.
In general, the sports minister’s work rotates around the ambit of NCS and, therefore, it is every minister’s wish to have an NCS board that is at par with his ambitions. In other words, the board has to be an extension of his powers to serve his interests.
It is for this reason that the first assignment of nearly every minister who has taken up the sports docket is to appoint his own board. So, what Obua did is just an extension to what most sports ministers have done since the seventies.
This is a trend that started in 1971 when Maj Gen Francis Nyangweso, then minister of Culture and Community Development, made himself the head of NCS until 1975 when he appointed Ernest Oluo.
When Esther Mary Astles Senkatuka replaced Nyangweso as minister in 1976, Lt Col Nasul Abdallah, the powerful governor for Central Province, usurped Oluo’s powers and appointed himself new NCS chairman.
The post-Amin government in 1979 put Dani Wadada Nabudere in charge of sports and he immediately picked Rev Pollycap Kakooza to head NCS but in 1981 when Dr James Rwanyarare assumed the ministerial role, he replaced Kakooza with Kezekiah Segwanga Musisi.
When Musisi’s term expired in 1983, Rwanyarare took the sports fraternity by surprise when he picked fellow cabinet minister Masette Kuuya to head NCS. In 1985, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali became minister in charge of sports and wasted no time to appoint Abbey Kafumbe Mukasa as NCS chairman.
Stanislaus Okurut was the only minister to maintain the status quo when he took over the docket in 1986. He extended Kafumbe’s board for another two years but in 1988 when Dr Edward Kakonge became sports minister, his first move was to accuse Kafumbe and his board members of being in office illegally.
Kafumbe didn’t wait to be pushed out and resigned along with his board that included Henry Balamaze Lwanga, Gordon Wavamunno, Sam Sewagudde, Sev Obura, Nyangweso, Bob Kasule and Col Sam Nanyumba, among others.
Kakonge immediately appointed Kasedde Mukasa to head the new board but within months, Gen Moses Ali took over the docket and immediately replaced Kasedde with Nyangweso.
The year 1991 ushered in Amanya Mushega as sports minister and he refused to extend Nyangweso’s term in 1992. Instead, Amanya returned Kafumbe Mukasa, by now the deputy minister of Finance, to head NCS. When Kafumbe passed on in 1994, Amanya picked Geoffrey Kizito, who served two terms and retired in 1999.
For the first time, Museveni appointed a state minister in this docket in 1999 and gave it to Alfred Omony Ogaba. Surprisingly, Ogaba turned down requests for a new NCS board and left Abbey Lutaaya, the NCS general secretary, to run the council without a board.
Henry Okello Oryem, Ogaba’s successor in 2001, also took his time to appoint a new board until 2003 when he appointed Wilson Tumwine to head it.
Charles Bakkabulindi retained Tumwine when he took over the sports docket in 2005 but replaced him in 2007 with Anthony Katamba, who served until 2012 when he was replaced by Bosco Onyik.
Now that Rukare has replaced Onyik, it remains to be seen whether he will overhaul the sector that lacks funding and manages a dilapidated Lugogo sports complex that needs a revamp.
hbzziwa@observer.ug
The author is The Observer operations director