June 30: Judgment day
Sports minister Charles Bakkabulindi (left) has reiterated that government will not back down on regulations but Fufa boss Moses Magogo (middle) and Uganda Olympic Committee president William Blick insist that the NCS regulations are outdated and unsuitable for managing sports professionally in today’s environment. Courtesy photos
KAMPALA. In April 2014, government passed into law a statutory instrument, under the National Council of Sports (NCS) Sports Act, which required existing national sports associations at the time to reapply to NCS.
Initially, federations were required to register within six months from commencement of the regulations.
After several postponements, government through National Council of Sports (NCS) set a June 30 deadline for all sports bodies to register.
Up to 37 of the 53 existing sports bodies were expected to beat the deadline that expires today.
There however remains a number of federations who are dormant or contesting the clauses in the regulations, most notably domestic football governing body Fufa.
After complying with the majority of the regulations, Fufa are contesting a clause in the regulations that asks national associations to incorporate under the Trustees Incorporation Act.
Should they - as expected - not comply by 5pm today, Fufa will cease to be recognised as the football governing body in the country. Consequently Fifa will ban Uganda.
Uganda Cranes require victory over Comoros next month to compete at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 39 years. According to the Mengo-based Fufa, complying with NCS regulations contravenes Fifa statutes and would therefore lead to the country being banned.
Government, through NCS has on the other hand always maintained there would be no further postponement of the registration date.
It remains to be seen what will become of Uganda’s participation in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August given that Fifa sanctions mirror possible penalties of national federations and associations in an international community of globally acceptable regulations.
