Another empty promise leaves She Cranes yawning loudly

The Uganda National Netball team, the She Cranes had an exceptional performance recently at the Commonwealth Games as well as the Netball Fast Five competition where they emerged fifth in both competitions.

The team missed a visit to the state house with the rest of the well performers from  the Commonwealth Games where those who attended were rewarded  Shs20m.

During their flag off to the Netball Fast Five, Honourable Peter Ogwang the State Minister for Sports demanded that players leave behind their account numbers and promised that they would receive their   Shs20m  per person even before their flight to New Zealand.

This came after players complained that despite the fact that they were going to New Zealand, they had nothing to leave behind for their families.

However a week after the She Cranes returned from New Zealand, the public has learnt that the minister’s was a false promise and up to now the team is yet to receive the money.

“We were only given Shs50,000 for transport back home. We are still waiting and do not know what is going on,” said one of the players.

Last week, the First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni congratulated the She Cranes through twitter but had demanding responses from a trio of She Cranes players in assistant captain Joan Nampungu, professional shooters Mary Nuba and Stella Oyella  who play Loughborough Lightning and Sirens respectively.

“At least we need motivation, we were given only 50k for all we did to make our country's flag go high. We are not happy,” Nampungu tweeted

“Totally agree, we have volunteered to play without payment for the love of our country but it is not fair as other people in power benefit from our sweat . We are not a charity case…..,” Nuba responded.

“You are very right Nuba. They are always giving us false promises,” Oyella added.

Uganda Netball Federation (UNF)  president Sarah Babirye Kityo admits that  the team has not received what they deserve but it was not right to respond to the First Lady in that way and on social media.

News reaching us has it that players have been forced to retrieve their tweets by the president.

Babirye says players are ignorant and are being used by enemies who want to tarnish the federation image and show that they are indisciplined.

“She did not tweet as a minister of sports  hence there was no reason for the players to attack her in the tweets. She congratulated us which was a good gesture but we did not  get any congratulations from the NCS,” she said.

Meanwhile about the players’ money, Babirye says the NCS officials intentionally took other teams to the state house when the She Cranes were in England fearing that the netball officials would speak out their grievances.

She adds that NCS officials know the whereabouts of the Shs20m given to the good performers.

As  for the minister  Ogwang to assure the She Cranes that they would receive the Shs20m before the Fast Five Series, he had first discussed the issue with Ambrose Tashobya the NCS president who was also present during the flag off.

However Tashobya has denied the allegations. “I do not have information on that, the minister made the promise hence I think he is in position to talk about the issue,” he said.

Meanwhile Daily Monitor failed to reach Ogwang as his contact numbers were off.

The current She Cranes team is in worry that they will face the same predicament just like the 2017-2018 winning team at the Africa Netball Federation that is also still demanding Shs20m per player as promised by President Yoweri Museveni