NCS given powers to take over land in new law

The National Council of Sports (NCS) has under the National Sports Bill, 2023 been given powers to assume full possession of all land on which public sports facilities are found throughout the country.

As it reworked and eventually passed the said legislation on Tuesday afternoon, Parliament reasoned that Section 75 of the said Bill would insulate such sports installations from encroachment from local government authorities or other unscrupulous persons that would otherwise misuse them.

The legislation that was engineered by the President of The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) Moses Magogo was first processed and passed on March 2nd  this year. It was however returned after President Museveni in a letter dated May 17th addressed to Speaker Anita Among demanded that some provisions of the said Bill be revisited, with key changes required on several Sections including Section 75.

The National Sports Bill Report authored by the Parliament’s Education Committee highlighted said the provision. It stated that: “Section 75 of the Bill had provided Provides that the land on which the public sports facilities are established and the public sports facilities thereon shall vest in the Council. There is need to make provision for the Schedule of the Sports facilities that will vest in the Council specifying the location, acreage and current registered proprietor(s) of the Sports facilities. The procedure for vesting the Property in the Council should also be provided.”

As he returned the Bill, President Museveni demanded that Section 75 be revisited to show the provisions for the Schedule of the sports installations that would empower NCS with the said mandate. In so doing, there was a need to clearly specify on acreage, location as well as the registered proprietor (s) of the sports facility in question and also show the procedure through such a facility would be vested into the administration of the NCS.

However, the report on the reworked version of the same Bill presented by the chairperson of the Parliament's Education Committee, Mr John Twesigye, recommended that the said provision be thrown out.

“Our biggest worry was that if we go by the President’s proposal, of bringing out that schedule as mentioned, it will indicate that these sports facilities are already taken over by the National Council of Sports and it will bring legal battles,” Mr Twesigye told Parliament.

He added: “Article 26 of the Constitution, I didn’t want to go into details and also the Local Government Act. The local government as a legal entity under the Uganda Land Commission has a right over their facilities and land on which the facilities are located. So, we were trying to avoid challenges that would come up against the council in case this is put into the law.”

His plea was however objected by colleagues in Tuesday’s plenary sitting. In a rather specific inquiry into Mr Twesigye’s recommendation to the House, Speaker Among said “Can you give us a reason why you want us to delete it? Because this is the only clause that protects our land.”

This attracted full support from the Kalungu West legislator, Mr Joseph Ssewungu who in defense of Ms Among position reasoned that the said provision would be one of the best firewalls for the such land in the country.

“I am one of those people who was in strong support of having all these assets under the National Council of Sports. If we create that entity without assets and properties what will be its worth?” Mr Ssewungu reasoned adding that “Secondly, the moment you delete that clause, you are going to create theft for this land. If it has been stolen throughout when there is no law, what will happen when it is not insulated? Let us look at Namboole itself. Whenever we meet Namboole we ask who owns Namboole, there is nobody owning Namboole.”

Similar support was received from Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka who stated that “once we go through the processes of vesting land in the National Council of Sports, there must be a protection that make sure that that land can’t be alienated from out of NCS. So you need section 75 to be existent in order for you to place land to be protected under that Act.”

Kickboxing kicked out, archery added

Other changes effected include President Museveni’s proposal to introduce archery as a new sport in Uganda as it already recognized on the Olympics calendar. On the other hand, kickboxing was thrown off the list of NCS’ recognized sport disciplines in Uganda.

Parliament also amended Section 32 (2) of the Bill to cater for the Members of the Board of the NCS. This provision shows that board shall consist a chairperson and other six members. These shall include a representative of the Private Sector, a representative from the Ministry responsible for Sports, representative of the Athletes, representative of the national sports associations or the national sports federations and a representative of the national sports associations or the national sports federations.

Genesis

The National Sports Bill, 2023 that now awaits President’s Museveni assent, came off as a Private Member’s Bill moved by the Fufa President Moses Magogo, the Budiope East legislator. The Bill was first tabled for its first reading on November 10 last year.

Parliament consequently processed and passed the said legislation on March 2nd this year but President declined to assent to it in a letter dated May 17th addressed to Speaker Among returned it to Parliament to tweak some of the clauses therein.

As procedurally provided, the Bill was sent to the line Committee -Education Committee- for reworking and was on Tuesday passed by Parliament. The final version of the Bill will now be sent to President Museveni for assent for it to become law.