Ansasiira pledges to protect Associates funding after ICC elevation
ICC task. Ansasiira.
What you need to know:
- Ansasiira, a property manager, replaces Neil Speight of Bermuda, who was elevated to the position of ICC Associates Member Director.
Bashir ‘Badu’ Ansasiira might be in the 11th hour of his tenure as the chairman of the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) but it hasn’t stopped the world from noticing his efforts and the renaissance of Uganda’s structures vis-à-vis development programmes.
Ansasiira became only the second Ugandan to earn International Cricket Council (ICC) stripes after Justine Ligyalingi, who is currently the ICC Africa Region Development Officer, after he was elected to serve on the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) until the end of the ICC Annual Conference Week in July.
In addition to sitting on CEC for this period, Ansasiira will also sit on the ICC Development Committee.
“When you get into such positions, there is always no celebration. It is time to pull up the socks and work again. I thank God and I am delighted to be given the opportunity to serve,” Ansasiira told Daily Monitor soon after the news filtered through that he had garnered 21 votes to beat the Netherlands’ Betty Timmer by three votes.
Ansasiira, a property manager, replaces Neil Speight of Bermuda, who was elevated to the position of ICC Associates Member Director.
Strategy makers
“We are the thinkers of the game. This victory is not only Uganda’s but also Africa’s and the whole global cricketing Associate Nations,” added the 43 year-old when questioned on what his elevation meant.
“ It is an indication that Uganda’s relentless development programmes are being noticed. We must not stop doing good things. My role starts in earnest next week with a couple of meetings.
“Together with the CEC, I am going to work to ensure that Associate Member funding is protected as much as possible among many other things like ensuring the game’s growth sustainability. The ICC will undoubtedly face many difficult financial decisions in the next two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic but a balance must be struck.”
The outgoing UCA boss believes he swept the block vote from Africa and the gulf nations as well as tallying a good number of votes from the ICC Americas and ICC Europe regions. Now he wants to keep their faith.
“Timmer has been in ICC before but for me to receive more votes than her means I was trusted to deliver,” he said
“Now I am going to repay the faith by chipping in my bit to help revamp regional age group tournaments from U-13s, U-15s, U-17s and U-19s to provide a smooth pathway for the sport. This will help the nations’ scorecards improve and thus attract more funding even from the corporate world,” added the Nile CC representative on the UCA Board since 2000.
