Reforms meet moved, Busoga United angry

What the initially nine protesting clubs wanted in a joint letter to the Uganda Premier League (UPL) secretariat ended up inadvertently happening after Fufa pushed one item on the agenda to next Thursday.

“The invitation to discuss club licensing and league reforms in one meeting is ineffective,” read the letter, which the UPL secretariat acknowledged but dismissed because it lacked signatures of the said entities chairmen’s signatures.

The letter was signed by Mbarara City chairman, Mwine Mpaka, on behalf of the nine. “We had earlier planned for a similar meeting scheduled for 18th June 2020 as communicated by you on the UPL forum,” it added, before confirming they would not attend yesterday’s meeting.

Mpaka and colleagues were referring to a circular from Fufa last week, which called them to a meeting yesterday to discuss club licensing for the upcoming season and the FA’s proposed competitions reforms, which contentiously include reducing topflight clubs from 16 to 12.

Show goes on
The meet at Fufa House in Mengo proceeded, but started late, forcing organisers focus on discussing only club licencing, with competitions reforms pushed to next Thursday – incidentally the same date earlier communicated in the protesting clubs letter.

Chairmen and representatives of only six out of 14 clubs sportingly confirmed for the 2020/21 season attended, including champions Vipers SC, 13-time league winners KCCA, Police, URA, Myda and – in an interesting turn of events - SC Villa, who were among the nine due to boycott.

Efforts to hear from Villa chairman William Nkemba, who represented the club at the meet, were futile as he neither picked our calls nor responded to a text request – by press time.

Impersonation?
There was also some theatre as Busoga Kingdom sports minister Amin Bbosa and a one Agatha Kayemba were registered as Busoga United representatives at the meeting, something that left the club chairperson livid.

“I didn’t send them there,” Busoga United chairperson Dinah Nyago, one of the protesting bosses, told Daily Monitor, “I don’t know what’s wrong with these people at Fufa. Bbosa doesn’t know anything about Busoga United. He is not a director, he is not a shareholder.

“And that other lady, I don’t even know her. I need an explanation from Fufa. How did they legitimize people to represent the institution of Busoga United when we didn’t send them there?”

This newspaper understands that Fufa were desperate to have all sides attend at all costs, bypassing the protesting chairmen by making frantic calls to different representatives throughout Monday. “Some of our colleagues were being offered money to attend,” alleged Nyago.

The meeting proceeded anyway, with Fufa president Moses Magogo opening it with a seemingly conciliatory tone.

“It is within our core values that we consult and debate,” he said, “I, therefore, call upon every participant of this meeting to be free to speak your mind and opinion. No one will be victimised for having a different opinion from the other.”

Way forward
KCCA vice chairman Aggrey Ashaba acknowledged the growing breakdown in communication between Fufa and the clubs, and the clubs, secretariat and board. “We need to listen to each other more and communicate better,” he said, before making his submission on licencing.

“To be effective, we need to see licensing data for past years to assess compliance and analysis if the success or deficiencies are either knowledge, skills or finance, and then discuss how to support clubs especially on financing.”

Fufa intend to use the 2020/21 season as a transition period for implementation of their proposal, if approved, with UPL clubs starting out at the usual 16 before six are relegated, instead of three.

MEETING ATTENDEES
*William Nkemba – SC Villa

*Aggrey Ashaba - KCCA

*Mulindwa George William – Vipers SC

*Francis Kidega - Police

*Moses Kaduyu – URA

*Haningtone Muwanguzi – Myda

*UPL board/secretariat

*Fufa officials

Boycotting clubs
Contentious
Amin Bbosa and Agatha
Kayemba - Busoga United

*Mwine Mpaka – Mbarara City

*Dinah Nyago – Busoga United

*Kiryowa Kiwanuka – Express

*Ronald Mutebi – Bright Stars

*Ronald Barente – Bul

*William Nkemba – SC Villa

*Hassan Lule (Director) – Wakiso Giants

*Bernard Atiku (Patron) – Onduparaka

*Reuben Mubiru - Kyetume

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