Why we need to improve the Sports Bill

A few months ago when Budiope East Member of Parliament Moses Magogo tabled the National Sports Bill for first reading on the floor of Parliament, deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa deferred it on grounds that there was a need for further consultations on the financial implications as well as to realign it with government’s own new sports policy.

Fact is that the Bill is long overdue and there is a need to repeal the archaic National Council of Sports (NCS) Act to create an all-encompassing Sports Commission.

The proposed law intends to consolidate and modernise the law relating to the incorporation and registration of national sports organisations and community sports clubs as well as provide for the management, promotion, development and regulation of professional, amateur and recreational sports in Uganda.

It further aims to streamline the recreation, registration and management of national sports organisations and community sports clubs and to codify the obligations of the state under international sports governing statutes.

Given the huge transformation it will have on sports, I expected Fufa leadership to do further consultations with stakeholders of the sector.

However, since the Bill was deferred, the leadership is yet to organize a single symposium on the Bill.

Instead, stakeholders such as heads of sports disciplines, clubs and technical people, among others, have been ignored. This has created discomfort, especially at NCS, where operations, future plans, and financings remain uncertain. Several NCS board members and high-level administrators have approached me to express their displeasure at being sidelined from having an input on a Bill that is going to directly affect them and the way they operate.

As Fufa president, Magogo, who rightly tabled the Bill, should be interested in seeing a harmonised Bill that serves everyone uniformly without favour. This is because this is an undertaking that seeks to change the way sports is run.

For instance, term limits should cover all sports administrators and should not be limited to commissioners. Also, there should be clear ways of doing business in sports across the board without excluding Fufa, whose Fufa TV incorporation remains murky yet it is moving to control all football business.

The Bill should explain how such an entity is created and how its funds should be distributed. At the moment, only a few of Fufa chiefs benefit from the TV.

For instance, when global body Fifa does business, it distributes the proceeds to national federations in their capacity as members but what do Fufa delegates/members get from Fufa TV?

Furthermore, the Bill needs to streamline how sports associations or federations do business, their checks and balances as well as punitive steps for culprits. Only then can we have these federations accountable to the people they serve.

Therefore, we shouldn’t just focus on the structure of the sports commission, it will further entrench impunity in federations the commission is supposed to supervise and regulate.

Those that are at the forefront of this important document should pause and listen to the voices of reason. The Bill, which eventually will become law, shouldn’t favour a few at the expense of the discipline.

Mr Immanuel Ben Misagga is a businessman