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KCCA must honour Ondu tie - Bainamani
Onduparaka defender Ajobe Mahdi fouls KCCA’s Samson Kigozi last season. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
- The CDP ordered the abandoned match to be replayed at a neutral ground, Onduparaka were deducted two points and two goals and referee Ronald Madanda banned for six months
Morley Byekwaso’s table leaders KCCA are currently caught between a rock and hard place. Club top management, still riled by the chaos in Arua that led to the abandonment of the first match against Ondurapara, are vowing not to play the rescheduled contest in Bombo tomorrow.
Yet, Fufa, and the StarTimes Uganda Premier League secretariat have stuck to their guns - maintaining that KCCA must honour the match or face the law.
Bafflingly, the January 31 circular from KCCA signed by CEO Anisha Muhoozi indicated that they got to know of the Thursday fixture via ‘social media’.
“Reference is made to your circular on several rescheduled matches circulating on various social media channels over the weekend wherein KCCA FC is destined to play the game against Onduparaka on Thursday 3rd February 2022 at Bombo Military Grounds,” she wrote.
Muhoozi emphatically added; “ “We hereby guide that we are unable to honour this fixture as we await determination of our appeal presented to the Fufa Appeals body.”
KCCA had expressed their disagreement with the Fufa Competitions Disciplinary Panel (CDP) ruling regarding their abandoned away game to Onduparaka on December 27 last year that had the match prematurely ended at 2-2 with the visitors having a possible penalty advantage.
The CDP ordered the abandoned match to be replayed at a neutral ground, Onduparaka were deducted two points and two goals and referee Ronald Madanda banned for six months.
Yesterday, the chairperson Appeals Committee Diana Nabuuso ruled that the appeal filed by KCCA ‘didn’t succeed and the earlier decision by the CDP stands.’
“The Committee found that no sufficient evidence was presented by KCCA to convince the committee to overturn the decision of the CDP,” Nabuuso stressed.
The league CEO Bernard Bainamani warned KCCA not to dare miss the game lest they risk losing the match by forfeiture.
“The fixture is on and all parties are expected to fulfil their obligations. The match officials are ready and we expect KCCA to honour the game or they face the consequences,” Bainamani told Daily Monitor.
KCCA adamant
In response to the appeals committee yesterday, KCCA remained defiant.
“We hereby request for grounds and reasoning as stated in the guidance of the Appeal,” Muhoozi wrote.
Onduparaka, who like KCCA are meant to receive Shs2.5m for the match preparation from Fufa, have declared their willingness to contest and ‘have already sent part of their delegation and fans to Kampala ready for the Bombo mission’.
KCCA, 13-time league winners, sit atop the league log with 31 points from 14 matches while George Lutalo’s Caterpillars are 13th with a paltry 13 points from 14 games.
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