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Whereas the president highlighted a number of ambiguous and defective clauses in the bill under interpretation, remuneration of the National Council of Sports (NCS) board and management of public sports infrastructure, deeper scrutiny shows that the bill needs an overhaul to tie the loose ends before it is sent back to the president for assent
Last week’s decision by President Museveni to send back the National Sports Bill to parliament for reconsideration may have passed under the radar but it was a damning indictment on the flaws contained in the bill.
Whereas the president highlighted a number of ambiguous and defective clauses in the bill under interpretation, remuneration of the National Council of Sports (NCS) board and management of public sports infrastructure, deeper scrutiny shows that the bill needs an overhaul to tie the loose ends before it is sent back to the president for assent.
It all starts with the spirit in which the bill was passed, especially when it comes to governance, administration and management of sports.
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19:34 - 29.05.2023
SPORTS Museveni returns Sports bill to parliament because of several irregularities
According to a statement from State House, Museveni advised parliament to reconsider up to four clauses within the bill submitted in March before he can assent to it.
Whereas the bill provides for thorough checks and balances when it comes to NCS operations, the same is not applied to the sports federations that NCS is supposed to regulate.
When you put into perspective that federation sports leadership/administration is technically a voluntary service and not a form of employment or platform for enrichment, you will realize that there ought to be strict rules or limitations that provide for continuity, thereby barring dictatorships.
Meanwhile, I find it counterproductive that sports federations don’t need to be incorporated by NCS and need to be recognized by NCS.
A regulator cannot be put to the test to comply with financial operations while the federation is given leeway to go away with its wishes.
This is so wrong, more so with football, which takes a lion’s share of the NCS’s Shs 47bn budget.
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09:21 - 03.03.2023
SPORTS Parliament passes sports bill
The new bill, passed after two days of debate and deliberations on various articles on the floor of parliament, will replace the 1964 National Council of Sports Act when signed into law by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
What we have in the current National Sports Bill is selfish propaganda aimed at keeping a few individuals in charge of sports administration.
Under the current bill, sports federations can withhold information about funding and sponsorship to the detriment of NCS, which is only limited to following up on what it gives the federations.
This provides a leeway for money laundering and other vices associated with funds that cannot be publicly scrutinized.
The irony of this all is that it is on record that FUFA president Moses Magogo, the bill’s chief protagonist, is a self-confessed fraudster who admitted stealing World Cup tickets meant for Ugandans.
In spite of that glaring fact, FUFA continues to hide behind FIFA’s non-interference by states in its business.
That’s how, with all the shame the nation was going through, a convict continued to manage football as the Education and Sports minister’s hands were tied not to act because of FIFA’s noninterference rule.
So, the bill as it is does not offer strict scrutiny and, therefore, will not bite FUFA even if more tickets are stolen.
This is a gap that needs to be blocked by having a streamlined channel through which NCS regulates the sports federations.
At the bare minimum, the bill should include an integrity assessment as a must for anyone to lead a sports federation.
What’s more, a number of sports federations do business whose proceeds are only known to a few in leadership.
Are federations private or public companies or entities? How does the NCS monitor and supervise these business ventures? This should also be addressed in the bill.
Meanwhile, NCS needs to be empowered to vet the sources and use of funds received by federations from donors and sponsors. The law should be open that when a federation gets funding or sponsorship, it should be open to Ugandans for scrutiny the way all NGOs do.
What’s more, federations should be made accountable to the public because sport is a public good.
Every sports federation only exists because a group of individuals is willing to spend to sustain it.
In fact, sports should borrow the dogma of the international rotary club to have term limits on the leaders so that there is a smooth transition to go forward.
This business of having one leader of a federation for more than a decade is unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the bill gives federations powers to vet sports betting companies on their respective games but this is defective.
You don’t have to be in Uganda to fix games here because everything is done online.
Just a few months ago, two Ugandans and a Russian were arrested in Kenya for trying to fix a match.
One can still influence matches from where FUFA or any other federation doesn’t hold jurisdiction.
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