Africa-Press – Uganda. Paul Mark Kayongo has been re-elected unopposed as president of the Uganda Woodball Federation (UWbF) for another five-year term.During Saturday’s annual general assembly in Nakulabye, Kayongo stressed that by the end of this term, woodball should have reached a higher level of sustainability.
The founder of the sport in the country, 12 years ago, stressed that this would be his last term.“I don’t want to come here after five years seeking your mandate to accomplish this dream. It must be done this term,” he said.In just 12 years, Uganda woodball has been to the World Cup four times and hosted international events twice.
Kayongo says the next chapter should be about realising the dream of the federation complex that houses an international woodball course, a world class woodball equipment processing plant and permanent offices.“We are a new sport with clear intentions,” Kayongo said. “The Chinese government through its embassy in Uganda has already made its contribution to the dream by offering us a modern equipment processing plant. “Their efforts are supplemented by the National Council of Sports and Ndejje University.”
The UWbF manufactures equipment rated Grade ‘B’ by the international federation but the new machine donation is expected to upgrade the equipment which will be sold across Africa.Only two new people were elected to executive as the others have been around. John Bosco Kaddu took the place of Godfrey Bukenya as technical director while William Osire replaced Aziz Walusimbi as a club’s representative as all office bearers were unopposed.
One-man syndrome
Although woodball has made significant strides in terms of strategic partnerships that include reputable establishments like Coral Coatings, Buganda Land Board, CPA Uganda, Cipla QCI, Coral Coatings and sports house Ndejje University, among others, the sport relies largely on the generosity and resourcefulness of its president.With a Shs1.6b budget this year, Kayongo says private partners should be involved. In this year’s projection, the Chinese Embassy will contribute Shs250m with NCS adding a further Shs930m towards the total budget.
“We need collective efforts in realising our goal by strengthening the brand of woodball,” he added.Going proWilliam Osire, a representative of Bank of Uganda, highlighted the need to introduce a professional league as one of the key directions for the sport. But Kayongo dismissed the idea, saying the sport is too young for that direction.
“Our efforts at the moment are about building trust with partners. Secondly, introducing a professional league when our approach is to involve schools might see the sport take a nosedive. I don’t think it is feasible to think about that in the short term,” he added, stressing that the Corporate Games will at the right time be used as the launchpad for a professional league.
Action set
With most players itching for the restart of activities, the federation has set February 21 as the kick-off of the season beginning with the Corporate Woodball Circuit at Makerere University Business School, Nakawa.
But this will largely rely on fulfilling the mandatory Standard Operating Procedures set by the Ministry of Health that include testing all players and staff for Covid-19.Luckily, the national team will have its costs catered for by the government for the World Cup in Perlis, Malaysia, in July.
gkatongole@ug,nationmedia.com
