Mwase, Mugisha even in USF race debate
After 16 years of working together, little separates the approaches of Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) presidential candidates Peter Mugisha and incumbent Moses Mwase ahead of Saturday’s elective assembly.
Mugisha has served USF as general secretary (2000-2012) and vice president (2013-to-date), while Mwase was a committee member (2004-2009), treasurer (2009-2012), general secretary (2013-2020).
On Friday, they took to a televised debate on UBC to engage with their stakeholders, including athletes, journalists, parents, coaches and administrators.
“I didn’t get time but thank God I have known the two gentlemen for long and I know what each of them can and cannot do,” Dolphins coach and outgoing USF vice president (technical) Muzafaru Muwanguzi, said.
Unfortunately, the debate was haphazardly organised, leaving many stakeholders in the dark.
“It was an impromptu organisation so the publicity was limited,” admitted UBC’s John Barnes Ssentamu, who hosted the debate.
“And we did not consult well with the production team about other live events of the day so we were interrupted by the IPOD summit, the Supreme Court case and the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines.”
However, the two contenders spoke a good game but struggled to convince on funding and facilities.
“There is nothing to draw the line because both of them are talking about extending the sport regionally but this goes with facilities and funding which they do not have,” one journalist said.
One of the parents, who liked Mugisha’s take on upcountry outreach programmes, wanted to see more measurable goals.
“Peter talked about aquatic centres across the country but did not have concrete plans to engage donors into realising this.
Moses emphasised a 10-year strategic plan to ensure continuous development of elite swimmers. But what are the short- and mid-term goals?” the parent pondered.
According to the debate’s moderator Erick Kisero, both candidates’ willingness to keep serving USF no matter Saturday’s results is a huge positive.
Mwase was willing to accommodate Mugisha in his executive while the latter said “Moses has a role to play in swimming as he is already vice president at Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC).”
Interestingly, Mugisha claimed that the USF executive committees’ decision to have Mwase take over from Rukare when he left for National Council of Sports (NCS) last year “was a tactical plan to prepare Moses” for the UOC position.
Mwase disagreed, saying the two bodies are independent of each other and that his UOC work is not an agenda item in USF meetings.
“Our plans for the high performance national facility will also continue as Peter says it requires team work while Moses is already engaging the government,” Kisero, who is unopposed with four others as executive committee members, said.
