REVEALED: clubs shunned Uganda Premier League SACCO, pressured to join

Busoga United president Dinah Nyago listens to the proceedings at he 10th FSLL AGM. Nyago was crucial in selling the SACCO idea to the clubs | UPL

REVEALED: clubs shunned Uganda Premier League SACCO, pressured to join

Fred Mwambu • 14:28 - 05.10.2023

The Uganda Premier League SACCO targets mainly the players in the league, coaches, club officials and the UPL secretariat staff.

Most StarTimes Uganda Premier League clubs had shunned the idea of joining the UPL SACCO.

The UPL SACCO was started in September 2020 in a bid to cushion its members against financial uncertainties.

The establishment targeted mainly the players in the league, coaches, club officials and the UPL secretariat staff.

However, the SACCO manager Hamdan Kalitwe, who doubles as the league’s accountant, revealed during the 10th AGM that only 15 members, mainly the secretariat workers, had joined three years later and had saved a paltry shs2.5 million during the period.

A few members, led by Busoga United president Dinah Nyago and her Kitara counterpart Deo Kasozi, urged the clubs to join in.

“If we keep proposing some of these things, we’ll not move therefore, I propose an automatic deduction from the quarterly amount if the members agree,” Kasozi proposed.

The two club presidents went on to push the motion and were supported by Gaddafi.

The proposal, which was later passed reluctantly, had been opposed by the majority of the members questioned the legality of the entity and its capacity to conduct such business.

They questioned the modality of operation, especially with the tricky nature of the league where three clubs are relegated and new ones promoted, management changes or a club is dissolved.

On that, the board chairman Arinaitwe Rugyendo, on a lighter note, advised them to ensure they avoid relegation.

The issue of players transferring overseas and the security of the funds loaned to members also arose.

It was passed, though half-heartedly, that each club becomes an automatic member of the SACCO by paying a subscription of shs200,000, buys at least one share at shs300,000 and save at least shs100,000 each month.

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