Netball coach opens up on controversial sacking

DM: Great to have you coach. So, when did you get to know you had been fired as She Cranes coach?
FM: I understand these people first had a meeting with the Ministry of Education and the National Council of Sports (NCS). Then they came to GEMS (Cambridge) International in the afternoon of Thursday July 16. I was there training the girls.

DM: Who are ‘these people?’
FM: The president (UNF), Susan Anek, was there, the vice technical William Mwanja, Anno Lucy - the treasurer, Stella Kwebiha, who is a committee member… I also think there was Mr Mutete Wilberforce, one of the publicity, and Ruth Rwakabale, the assistant general secretary. We had just finished training… So they sent someone to call me. I went to the hall where they were. Strangely, what I was expecting was different from what they had.

DM: What were you expecting?
FM: I thought that since there had been a lot of pulling here and there on who should be included on the final list of the travelling team, they had come for us to decide on the final 12. According to the international body, they are supposed to be 12 to play at the World Cup. To my surprise, they told me that they had met with the ministry and NCS and during that meeting; they said that they had a letter from the International federation advising them to replace me.

DM: Who was revealing that message to you?
FM: Mwanja, the vice technical. Then they told me that after speaking with the ministry and NCS officials, them as netball officials stood outside and discussed again about me. Mwanja told me that in their side meeting, they agreed that even if am no longer the team coach, I will travel with them to Sydney. They told me that it is only for this particular tournament that probably I’m not supposed to be sitting on the bench of the team, and that from time to time they will be requesting for my assistance.

DM: Did they tell you who was going to replace you?
FM: During that Thursday meeting, I said look, we have been four people here. Me, Kiwanuka (Vincent, as his assistant), Mutete (Wilberforce) and Kamoga (Milly), who have been handling the team. I told them that if at all you got that letter recommending that I don’t sit on the bench, I think it would be advisable for you to pick one of these rather than bringing somebody new from out. Mwanja then said that since ‘we have probably already made a mistake (in bringing someone new), there is no way we can reverse it. So we shall go with what we decided as the executive.’ I shrugged. That is the time we departed that Thursday.

DM: And then your replacement is introduced moments after you had conducted your morning training on Saturday…
FM: Remember, in our meeting on Thursday, they had told me that now and then I would be assisting them… Now on Friday, it was Idd and we had sent the players home. So on Saturday morning, as usual, I drove to GEMS for training. We had the morning session. After lunch, Kiwanuka (his hitherto assistant) came to me and said ‘do you know what is now happening? These people are now changing from what they told you that you will be travelling with them, and that you will receive all the benefits. Now they are saying that because they do not have enough funds, you are not going.’ I wondered why they had not informed me. So I asked Mutete, he said: ‘I couldn’t tell you because there is somebody who was assigned that duty of informing you what had transpired on the meeting that we had on the Idd day (July 17).’ The girls and I, Mwanja, other netball officials and the new coach had now gathered. They told the girls that they had replaced me with so and so (Rashid Mubiru) and that this was the right time that ‘we are introducing him to you.’ I just kept quiet. The new coach addressed the girls, said he had no problem with us and thanked us for our work. I shook hands with him. Because of what had transpired, the girls’ morale had fallen and we just agreed that they go home for the day.

DM: And after that they gave you Shs1m as your send-off package…
FM: After the girls had gone, Mwanja asked the netball officials that ‘now, can we talk to Mugerwa about what we agreed?’ They said, ‘no no no, you go ahead and talk to him.’ Mwanja called me aside. The two of us sat on the bench. He said, ‘look, I have been told to give you this money’. There was money in an envelope, he said it was Shs1m. I asked him what it was for. He said that this was the allowances that I might probably have worked for. He said that it is supposed to be Shs1.4m but at the moment they were only giving me Shs1m. I declined to take the money. I then told him that since we started training last November, I have spent a lot of money and I don’t think the Shs1m is equivalent to my work. What I want is, let’s get down to the breakdown of the budget for the World Cup and see how much I’m supposed to get. Mwanja also said that the executive had decided that I cease coming to the camp. (Mwanja corroborated Mugerwa’s narrative to Daily Monitor July 22).

DM: Have you received the said letter from INF advising that you step aside?
FM: No. I told the president (Anek) face-to-face, ‘when I asked you for the letter, you said it is with the secretary, when I went to the secretary, I was sent to VP technical, then technical was telling me the letter is with the team manager, I call the manager, the manager says I don’t have that letter. So who has the letter?’ She could not answer. I then told her that I was not refusing her decision, but all I want is to see the details in that letter and where the letter came from. I also informed her that the tournament they say is responsible for my being fired, the Diamond League, was not an International Federation tournament, but an invitational from South Africa. This tournament was intended to show us what we should expect at the World Cup. And if we made mistakes, it was supposed to help us correct them in this period before the World Cup. During that tournament, I commented that the umpires for our game against South Africa were not fair. Indeed the following day when the organizers and our officials met, they agreed that officiating of that day was wanting. The blame to me was that I shouldn’t have aired it because the whole world was watching.

DM: So do you suspect that if there is any letter it came from South Africa?
FM: Yes. My friends close to the South African federation tell me that there was something like advising our federation that their coach should not be very aggressive in Sydney.

DM: Why do I think that this is deeper than is being revealed?
FM: What I can tell you is that I was very close to these girls and have always fought for their rights, especially concerning money. I always tell the officials that if there is money for the girls, pay it and if there isn’t, then don’t lie to them. This has always uncomforted the authorities.

DM: What next for you?
FM: I have let it go. I have worked with this team through thick and thin and I want them to do well. I don’t want the girls to go to Sydney half-heartedly. My request to them is to go there, play and meet our target of qualifying from our group. If they do that, I will be the happiest person.