How can Silverbacks have controversy-free window?

The National Council of Sports (NCS) and the Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) are pledging the game of hoops will not suffer cynical side-shows ahead of next July’s second window of the World Cup qualifiers.

The two have lately battled players and the game itself off the headlines – with the media a poor pawn – thanks to inadequate funding, preparation and communication.

The upcoming second window will surely do with good vibes of the Silverbacks preparations rather than the hymn book of dearth in funding, delayed accountability and counter blame.

This comes on the heels of yet another spate of back-and-forth digs between Fuba, NCS and the line ministry, with each somehow accusing the other of either inciting or falling short in their duties.

This particular Angola window, after close shaves in Rwanda, where the hosts initially pledged to settle Uganda’s bills during AfroBasket finals in Kigali, also left a bitter taste in many stakeholders’ mouth.

First, the trip to Benguela was on, but with no guarantees of money from NCS. Then it was in jeopardy. Then it was off. Dead. Then alive again.

This is what needs to be avoided ahead of the second World Cup qualifying window next July.

How do we get on with it?

But will NCS, whose budget has been left in disarray by Covid-enforced cost cutting, for sure avail funds in time once Fuba requisitions are in?

“Of course, government wants to see value for money, because we don’t have enough money to take care of everything,” said NCS General Secretary Patrick Ogwel.

“But everyone must play their part. Fuba did not account for money from Kigali AfroBasket until November 22 . Then they wanted the team to travel on November 23. It doesn’t work that way.

“I have had a good chat with the national team general manager Hajj Santur (Mohamed) and asked him to prepare a roadmap for next July’s window.

Fuba president Nasser Sserunjogi told Score that some times they struggle to beat submission of documents deadlines to NCS because of Fuba’s uncertainty of match venues.

“Even now we don’t know where the July window will be played, but we know it’s from July 1-3,” he said. “But at least we know the dates, and this time we’ll have an estimate of how much we might need, never mind not knowing the venue.

“We would love to be in camp at least three weeks before the tournament, and by January, NCS will have our budget. And every month we’ll give them a reminder.”

Alexandria camp

The window that had the game and players dominate headlines remains the best qualification campaign the Silverbacks have ever had.

The Silverbacks had a chance to make it three AfroBasket Championship finals with the 2021 edition, NCS and Fuba were in synchrony during preparations and the tournament and the team enjoyed a flawless buildup.

Fuba put together a programme to have the Silverbacks camp in Alexandria, Egypt, weeks before the finals tournament tipped off and NCS stamped it with a dollar’s approval.

The result? Two victories over Cape Verde and Morocco.

The loss to hosts Egypt still left the Silverbacks in prime spot to win just one more game in the following window in Tunisia, which they did – but in Morocco after Uganda’s games in Tunis were forced off by Covid cases.

The Silverbacks also beat Cape Verde and hosts Morocco to qualify for the 2021 AfroBasket in style.

Tunisia abortion, Morocco chance

However, the aborted Tunisia games left the country in a state of bother. One; Fuba hoped Fiba would allow them another chance to still play their qualifying games at any given venue.

But two; having fully facilitated the team’s initial trip to Tunisia for that second window of qualification, and the team indeed travelling, NCS had exhausted their resources.

The national sports regulator categorically made it clear they did not have funds to facilitate the extra baggage of Uganda’s second chance after Fiba granted Fuba the opportunity to play the second window in Morocco.

Fuba, like they had previously done to ensure travel for these engagements and government reimbursed later, borrowed money and flew to Morocco, anyway.

But this time they did this without authorisation of the NCS, thus flouting public accounts rules on borrowing.

The Silverbacks beat Cape Verde and Morocco, again, and confirmed their slot at 2021 Kigali AfroBasket finals.

Had Fuba not improvised for that Morocco trip, Uganda would not have been at the Kigali Arena showcasing the country’s gifts to the world. Yet there was that unresolved issue of who pays back the debt Sserunjogi and Fuba had accrued to facilitate the team’s trip.

The government, through NCS, insisted that as far as they were concerned, had facilitated the second window in Tunisia. NCS blamed Fuba for borrowing outside the known government guidelines while on the other hand congratulating the Silverbacks upon qualifying for AfroBasket through the same window the local basketball authorities improvised for.

So you had a scenario of Fuba, led by Sserunjogi, publicly facing up with NCS and the political wing at the line ministry, which left the latter duo exasperated.

To them, Sserunjogi and some of his passionate foot soldiers were not appreciating government’s support and instead hanging them out to dry.

This back-and-forth spat played out in the media as the team neared the finals in Kigali. Still, travel was not guaranteed.

In the end, NCS went ahead to release money for the team’s Kigali AfroBasket finals tournament after several top level calls involving State House. Actually, the money – Shs340m – arrived so late the team could have traveled without it.

It had to be delivered by State agents to NCS in the wee hours of the morning the team was due to travel – in a sack. It was handed over to Sserunjogi by Ogwel, still in its improvised safe, in full view of cameras, just in case.

Accountability sometimes happens that way this part of the world. Shs340m was said to be in there. In the sack!

According to Sserunjogi, they used that money to clear debt that allowed them to take that extra trip to Morocco.

Once games tipped off at the finals in Kigali, the boys did the business on court, finishing an impressive sixth. But off court, Sserunjogi pulled different packs of cards to force hands in Kampala come through – with the Rwanda government offering to clear the team’s bills.

Finally several correspondences involving, among others First Son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, availed Shs188m, which cleared the team’s hotel bills.

On return, the team was hosted by the Buganda kingdom premier. They also – while sidestepping the line ministry and NCS – sought audience with President Museveni and secured Shs215m .

That irked the sports regulators.

“I mean, when you are pushed against the wall, what do you do?” wondered Sserunjogi. “We had players and technical team allowances to clear, team uniforms, air tickets, medical bills...

“And this money from the President also came about 10 days to the first window of the World Cup qualifiers, which explains our delayed  accountability.”

Benguela chaos - to travel or not

Enter Benguela. The first window of the World Cup qualifiers was upon us, with the home-based players training in Kampala with no clear indication they would travel to Angola or not.

NCS had responded to Fuba’s requisition for the trip that they had no money, while reminding the basketball body that they were way overdue in submitting their accountability from Kigali.

The public accounts procedure required Fuba to have submitted accountability 45 days after the event. It was now a month overdue.

A day or two to the travel and Sserunjogi – whose team had further irked regulators by writing to the First Lady and line minister Janet Museveni for intervention, which letter eventually reached Ogwel’s desk – was still pacing up and down, with  no clear sign of breakthrough.

Between Monday, November 22 and November 23, with the team hoping to travel to Angola the next day, Sserunjogi submitted Kigali accountability, released a statement that the Silverbacks had pulled out, and met the State minister for Sports Hamson Obua.

“What was disappointing is that even as my minister was trying to pull strings last minute, Nasser released that statement that we had pulled out. That was in bad faith,” said Ogwel.

Sserunjogi defended himself.

“I was under a lot of pressure. Phone calls were flying from everywhere. I had to do something.”

It’s at this time that Sserunjogi’s predecessor Ambrose Tashobya came into the picture and from then on became Ogwel’s contact man for anything Fuba.

Last ditch moves

Fiba had contacted Fuba after seeing Sserunjogi’s letter of the team’s withdrawal. The international body offered to pay for the Silverbacks accomodation, feeding and other fees at the tournament. Uganda would refund later.

Then NCS secured last minute air tickets for the team at 10pm, the night before the morning of travel.

“The team now needed some money on them,” chipped in Ogwel, “so I gave Tashobya a go-ahead to borrow money of not more than $30,000 for the team to travel with and pledged to refund it from government’s next quarter.

“We had to do this for the players and also for the country so there was no need for Nasser and his people to pit government against NCS.”

Sserunjogi maintained that “I do not undermine anyone. People just have to do their job.”

Beyond government money

Asked why even after the most recent success of the Silverbacks Fuba still cannot tie down sponsorship for the national team, Sserunjogi, who came to office in 2019 just before Covid hit, explained.

“The truth is corporate companies want value for their money. If a company invests Shs1b, they want to recoup at least double that. But we can’t host international games because we don’t have facilities. Sponsors want that visibility, which we don’t have.

“We are supposed play these qualifiers home and away but Fiba put them in one place because of costs and limited facilities elsewhere... But we continue pushing and have written countless proposals to different companies.

“It must be made clear that national teams facilitation remains the job of government. Sponsorship is just a bonus.”

Both Fuba and NCS are promising to play good ahead of the second window. And if Ogwel dealing directly with Tashobya will make the wheels move, Sserunjogi has “no problem” with it.

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