Africa-Press – Uganda. Hamson Obua, the minister of sports has called for harmony in the sports subsector to allow growth.
Speaking during the commissioning of the new board of directors of the National Council of Sports at Copper Chimney Restaurant in Lugogo, Obua said that bickering is holding back sports in the country.
He explained that enhancing the performance of the national teams, teamwork, stability, transparency, and accountability should be the next agenda.
“I believe in weeding for those people who deliberately continue to cause instability. If they are not following their written rules, we must deregister them. No one has the mandatory to cause wrangles every day,” he said.
Obua encouraged the new leadership to make all attempts to make the sports sector cleaner by weeding out incompetent and warring associations.
Last week, the wrangle-hit Kickboxing Federation, which has failed to organise elections was deregistered.
There have been power struggles between current president Patrick Luyooza and the rival faction led by Malik Kaliisa since the demise of former president Hassan Ssekirime.
“We would rather have 10 associations where we have a niche instead of 50 just causing us a headache. In order to perform better, we need stability,” Obua highlights that most wrangles emanate from contravention of constitutional mandates.
He said: “We need to put a full stop on wrangles. The sports sub-sector must be stable.”
Positive steps
Although the sports subsector encountered significant budget cuts last year, Obua announced that government will now release Shs5.2bn to enhance sports at the district level.
“This money is meant for co-curricular activities for purposes of talent identification and empowering districts to participate in regional and national competitions,” he said.
Each local government will receive Shs30m his financial year.
He encouraged the new team to create a mechanism where the government is involved in monetary discussions with the private sector.
“We need the government to be part of these negotiations. The federation negotiating alone has a missing link,” he said.
Work to do
Obua said that there is an urgent need for guidance and support towards funding programmes.
The sports policy is delayed by consultations. The sports policy was expected to be ready by the end of this financial year.
Obua directed the commissioner to hasten the process and get everything done in the three remaining months.
“Let’s have the policy ready and leave the rest to Cabinet for approval of the new law,” he said.
New NCS board
Ambrose Tashobya (chairman) Cecilia Anyakoit, Zubair Galiwango, Agatha Namirembe, Andrew Otengo Owiny, Juliet Oyulu, George William Galiwango, Stephen Kiprotich, Evelyn Piloya, Agatha Arembe, Susan Anek, and Derrick Namisi.
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