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Set minimum wage for league players - Savio
Kabugo is begging Fufa not to forget the main stakeholders - players - in their plans to develop the game. PHOTO BY EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
- Fufa’s player’s status committee is usually labelled toothless by club owners usually seen busy when a player seeks to be released from a club after disagreements.
- Beach Soccer administrator and Fufa Executive Committee member Anthony Tumwesigye says that by football remaining informal, it is high time clubs re-organise.
Uganda Cranes defender Savio Kabugo says that Fufa should embark on working conditions of players in the Ugandan league to ensure more competition.
Speaking to Sunday Monitor, Kabugo said that the playing conditions in Uganda are on a different wave length compared to most African leagues.
It is undeniable that most footballers enjoy many perks that come with playing for the national team, but Kabugo says minimum financial conditions for league teams can help build more competition.
“Our league would be the best if they (Fufa) set financial standards so that for any team to compete, they must have a minimum allowance to their players,” said Kabugo, who plays for Ethiopian side Sebeta City.
Good working conditions
Kabugo, 25, a Uganda Cup winner with SC Victoria University in 2013, has played for KCCA, URA, Proline and SC Villa in the Ugandan league.
“We enjoy talking about all the positive things in Uganda’s football talent-wise, but the players also need an improvement in their working conditions.”
Only a handful of Uganda Premier League (UPL) teams like KCCA, Vipers, URA, Bul, Wakiso Giants and Express, pay players reasonable wages while non-payment is the song elsewhere. Even those clubs that attempt to pay well remain secretive of the terms of reference.
“Many players give up on their careers due to empty promises at their clubs yet the legal framework of enforcing payments is weak,” he says.
Fufa’s player’s status committee is usually labelled toothless by club owners usually seen busy when a player seeks to be released from a club after disagreements.
“We are more talented than most countries where our players go but those countries treat soccer as serious business. They have professional set-ups and football is a means of survival. That is why players in those leagues push on until they reach the top. It is frustrating playing here (in Uganda).”
Beach Soccer administrator and Fufa Executive Committee member Anthony Tumwesigye says that by football remaining informal, it is high time clubs re-organise.
“Current club contracts are only made for purposes of licensing without a will by clubs o respect them,” Tumwesigye said.
The University Football League manager adds that with big-name clubs more scrutiny should be done before licensing with more strict supervision along the way.
Fufa Communications Manager Ahmed Hussein adds that although minimum wages can be set by government, creating a cap for teams in the UPL and Big League helps to make the game sustainable.
“It helps in a lot of ways. First, players will have security which brings the best out of them. But teams can also plan effectively both in the long and short term,” Hussein said.
Return to Cranes
Kabugo’s towering figure is fondly remembered by Uganda Cranes fans for his thunderous ninth-minute header against Ghana in the penultimate 2015 Nations Cup qualifier at Namboole stadium. A catastrophic final game in Morocco against Guinea, when Andrew Mwesigwa was red carded, denied Uganda an opportunity to the Afcon finals.
Capped 24 times, with his last appearance coming in the 2-1 training friendly loss to Madagascar at Lugogo on October 4, 2017, Kabugo is itching to return to the national team fold.
“My dream is to play in Europe but the first target is to get a good contract outside Uganda.
“I am working to see myself in a better team and earning some good money. National team comes as a bonus,” he explains of his ambitions.
CASE OF UGANDA
On Hold. Uganda has no minimum wage. In August last year, President Museveni declined to assent to the Minimum Wages Bill passed in February by parliament. The Bill sought appointment of a board to fix minimum wages for all job sectors.
Museveni said Cabinet still awaits a report from the Ministry of Gender on the implications of fixing a minimum wage to the investment and the economy.
