Rukare: Uganda needs to dialogue about strategy, funding for major games

On March 22, Donald Rukare was re-elected unopposed as president of the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) for the next four years ending 2029.

Vice president (technical) Moses Mwase, general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru, and treasurer Sadik Nasiwu were unopposed too.

Interestingly, 2021-2025 vice president (administration) Dunstan Nsubuga was ousted by Godwin Arinaitwe Kayangwe – formerly an executive committee (excom) member. The absent Nasser Sserunjogi also lost his excom seat as UOC members replaced them with Richard Mcbond Asiimwe and Robert Jjagwe at the expense of Ganzi Mugula.

It was not necessarily a full kick out as Lydia Ssanyu Dhamuzungu returned as assistant general secretary against a popular administrator in Annet Nakamya.

Our reporter Makhtum Muziransa spoke to Rukare, at the UOC offices in Lugogo, about the last term and what the continued endorsement means for the Olympic movement.

First of all, congratulations! You were unopposed but that perhaps means UOC still needs you.

Thank you!

I thought you wanted another term for the entire executive you worked with in the first term (2021-2025). Was I making assumptions?

We let the electorate decide.

Is it an approach that works? Usually in Ugandan sport, we want endorsers; where a leader says I want to work with these individuals, please vote for them.

We prefer that the electorate decides and we welcome the new members of the team. We even had an induction last week as we have a lot of work to do.

In the last four years, there were things UOC did well. There are always good vibes and understanding about the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, which are your core mandate. What for you were the highlights?

You have to keep in mind that at the start of the four years, we had Covid-19.

We were able to keep things moving in those turbulent times, but we lost time for the things we intended to do.

But to answer, it was important to maintain the cohesion of the Olympic family. We can always have constructive criticisms but given where we came from (years of administration wrangles that went till about 2014) and that the previous eight years (2013-2021 under, now International Olympic Committee member, William Blick) were largely peaceful, we needed to maintain that peacefulness.

If there is turbulence in an organization, it is hard to work. Furthermore, we maintained a peaceful relationship with key stakeholders like the National Council of Sports (NCS) and Ministry of Education and Sports. In the past, during one of our elections, there was even a letter from government disavowing us.

Two, we managed to support our members with scholarships for Tokyo (2020) and Paris (2024); that is athletes in the rugby men and women’s teams, badminton, athletics, rowing, weightlifting… as well as capacity building for coaches and sports administrators; Shillah Omuriwe Buyungo, Richard Mcbond, Harriet Aya.

Thirdly and this is not 100 percent on us but through our affiliates, we are beginning to see Uganda do well at major competitions. A lot of those athletes have been on scholarships we provided but generally the things we ask our federations to do like having strategic plans, contribute to this success.

We were also able to have; very active commissions, dedicated working staff led by (administrator) Elijah (Njawuzi), and improve the financial management system of the UOC. We have introduced electronic banking, quick bookkeeping, and we can leave this for future administrations. (Suffice to note that ahead of the 2021 election, UOC reported a financial loss of Shs200m thereby forcing them to change their accounting systems).

We also had a number of court cases when we joined, like (Rogers) Ddungu against us, but we have sorted all of those.

Out of Court or in Court?

Both! All those litigations that were a legacy of the past are now settled.

We started working on partnerships. We onboarded Nile Special, Kansai Plascon, Sanlam, Graphics System, Uganda Tourism Board – about Shs400m that we never had before.

We started a new system of directly supporting our members – it is not much, just $1,250 (about Shs4.6m) but we hope it can grow. We recently held an awards dinner to celebrate the athletes.

We hosted a number of regional and international forums; the IOC forum, where the whole of Africa came here, Olympic debates of three or four countries. We also hosted the IOC president, who chose us among the five African countries he visited.

We managed to attract programmes with GiZ to see how sports can be used for development. We had the Game Connect projects and some other countries came here to benchmark; Eretria, South Sudan, and then Kenya, who we had online. We are a point of reference for other countries and we are happy with that.

We have initiated the process of acquisition of land to conclude the project for our home. We are working with the Ministry of Kampala to conclude this, which for us is major unfinished business.

Where do you need to improve?

We need to attract more funding so we can support our members.

The Sports Act also has very many things to implement, and these come with lots of implications for our members. We are currently engaging with the various stakeholders on this.

We can do more on visibility. Our media footprint has drastically improved, we have done some community works and activations with Nile (Special) but we can do a lot more.

What do you intend to have in the home? Just offices or a few sports grounds too?

We are hoping to have an office because right now we are renting from NCS, who intend to redevelop this place. 

Hopefully, we will create space for some of our federations that have no offices.

We then also intend to twin it with an OlympAfrica Centre. (OlympAfrica is a program of the IOC aimed at promoting social development in Africa through sport, with activities including building sports and education centers, creating sporting programs, and awarding scholarships).

And the law? Some people feel the approach is too diplomatic from your end, that you, Don, should be more vocal and speak truth to power.

We are doing our best.

The question is whose responsibility is it to work on it? Is it the UOC or federations?

UOC is the umbrella body with leaders they look up to. In the past, whenever there was tension between federations and government, to use the words of a former general secretary of NCS, “you (UOC), were shielding federations”.

We are trying to respect everybody's mandate. The regulator has their mandate and so do we.

We have talked to them, written, and we even have a meeting this week (Wednesday). There is a time for everything, be it confrontation but fighting takes us nowhere.

Is that a view you hold because of where our sports has come from? The fights between UOC and NCS in the past?

Yes. Having constructive open dialogue is a better option.

NCS held a press conference last week about the new regulations and there was a particular message to the UOC not to endorse federations that are non-compliant with the Act.

We respect the law but we need to be aware, and we have written before that some aspects need to be considered carefully. Some requirements are quite onerous under Section 9 and 10 to become an association or federation; the district coverage is not very clear; what does presence or being active mean?

We believe that there should be a progressive element to these aspects. It is going to take some time for some to have facilities; say swimming, fencing, archery.

The principle of national coverage is very right but how it is implemented is still a bit complicated. How many federations can actually comply?

That is where we have a difference of opinion. If you look at the Kenyan regulations of 2016 for example, they talk about having branch offices in about 24 of 47 counties, but they gave federations three years… and also recognized that some federations, due to the uniqueness of their disciplines, may not be able to be in all of these counties.

What is the role of government in this expansion? Do they provide the facilities? Is it supposed to be a symbiotic relationship? Is it all down to the federations?

I think it should be symbiotic but there are two conflicting philosophies. One says the federations and associations should be in position to do it all.

Others say that it should be the government that supports them to be in districts. I believe that should be the position. These are national, not personal, federations and if they are to do national programmes, do you want the promoters to put in their personal money?

What do you think is fair?

I look at it from a political lens. If government can support political parties that want to overthrow it with billions, then why not the sports federations that intend to work with it?

Correct. I have run a federation for a number of years and it is not easy, you have to put personal money. The overall investment for some of these is huge. A 25m pool would cost you over Shs800m and that is just to build not to maintain.

How long has it taken Uganda to get these nice stadiums courtesy of Afcon (2027 Africa Cup of Nations)? It takes time and those cost $150m+.

If I am to have programmes in Nakapiripirit, Nakasongola, Mbale, I need to be supported. You cannot rely purely on sponsors. All in the ecosystem should work together but my technically sound view is that the primary responsibility is with government.

How do we grow our Olympic and Commonwealth Games representation from just the three or four regular disciplines; swimming, athletics, boxing, and maybe weightlifting or cycling or rowing - to say 10-15 sports disciplines?

It goes back to what we have been saying. To have on-field-of-play performance, there are a series of things you have to fulfill. If you look at the federations and associations that are performing, what are their characteristics?

You need to be stable, organized, have resources, a plan, talent, and then you can add things like comparative advantage.

Do we have all these elements? I still believe we have not had an exhaustive discussion as Uganda’s sporting family, on what our priority is. Is it; podium performance at the world stage, mass participation, community engagement for health? What is our strategy?

Some countries that want podium performances ask themselves where they can win them and concentrate there; say Fiji in rugby 7s.

If our strategy is the same, we say, what are we doing now, not waiting for 2027.

For now, we are depending on a few like athletics where we have elite performers, swimming which gets universality slots, boxing… but we need to sit down and decide our priorities and deliberately invest. There is no shortcut to success, you need the right coaches, nutrition, training and preparation, and participation.

See South Sudan, they decided to invest $5m (about Shs18.5b) in basketball and qualified for the Olympics.

Doesn’t the UOC have the capacity to lead this discussion?

We are having it but it cannot be us alone. Government, federations both here and international (IFs), UOC, all have roles to play.

We do not have athletes; but do the federations know their athletes, teams, and their rankings?

Let us say we have discussed and agreed on six disciplines. The UOC scholarships can go to athletes in those, we can also send them to camps and then maybe have their coaches attend some programmes. Then other stakeholders can chip in too.

But that brings another controversial debate; should we merge NCS and UOC like what they have in Germany and South Africa?

What is your view? You have been both ends

It would make life easier. It has its advantages.

Do they outweigh the disadvantages?

Yeah, I think they do.

But honestly, we need to have an honest discussion as the sports ecosystem. Right now we are still fighting for money and I see that we have grouped (federations) into Tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 (for distribution of NCS funds), but was it based on a national discussion?

If I was to ask you Makhtum; which six top disciplines should we support and why?

Definitely athletics...

Why? Is that for short or long distance?

For long distance running because we have shown that we are world beaters there. Maybe let me start by making it clear that we (Uganda) should focus on performance because the role models we get from that will inspire mass participation, which will then lead to health performance.

So athletics – even before they started getting Shs3b, they were winning. I am not sure we did much for (Stephen) Kiprotich as a country en route to winning his marathon gold at London 2012.

Netball – we have proved we can compete with the rest of the world. I am lately leaning towards cricket, not because of performance now, but because they get huge support from their IF. That means there is a lot of activity and exposure for their athletes. I just hope the leadership there is giving these experiences to the right players because if they do things strategically, we can improve a lot.

But also with cricket, you probably have to pick between the men and women. We did it for the African Games and got 20 medals. We sat here and asked teams why they should go? What are your chances of winning? Is it an Olympic qualifier, and things like that.

(Uganda got gold in; women’s badminton doubles through Husnah Kobugabe and Gladys Mbabazi, men and women’s rugby 7s, and men’s individual time trial through Charles Kagimu… silver from Kobugabe (singles), weightlifter Davis Niyoyita, runners Halimah Nakayi and Peruth Chemutai, men’s football, and bronze from men’s cricket, women’s football, 3x3 men’s basketball, Niyoyita, swimmer Gloria Muzito, badminton’s Fadhila Shamika, javelin thrower Joyce Lalam, plus boxers Innocent Tumusiime, Kasim Murungi, and Muzamir Semuddu).

Yes, teams need to justify why they have to go

That is what we are not doing properly. We are spreading thin our little money. My model would be; each federation gets minimum funding – let us say Shs50m – to have an office, hire a bookkeeper, administrator, and a technical officer.

From there you identify which sport can perform and then add them more money. This business of giving a federation Shs10m which comes down to Shs2.5m per quarter or Shs800,000 per month makes things very difficult.

But finish the six, please.

Rugby of course because we are competitive on the continent

I thought you would say boxing.

It is there but maybe the strategy can be better. Even though I believe that regular practice helps, I cannot sit here and say a boxer out of the Champions League is ready to compete at the top stage.

The others would be cycling and badminton but maybe they do not have enough talent pushing through beyond the one or two or three top names. Badminton always has someone that comes just short of qualifying for the Olympics.

To deepen the debate, we need to also be specific on what we are targeting as a country. Is it Africa or the world? For now, Africa would be a good target.

We are getting there in Africa for most of the sports, even swimming is winning medals. You need to be a powerhouse in Africa before thinking about the world.

Correct. But that (swimming medals) came from a deliberate strategy we took 15 years ago to send coaches first for training.

I have told you what we did for the African Games. It was not by accident that we won those medals and yet we strategized in a very basic way. Imagine if we dug deeper.

I feel that for the next one or two Olympics, we should not be very stringent. If a Ugandan team or athlete qualifies, they should go no matter their world ranking. It is still important for us to increase the participation base, exposure for athletes, coaches and administrators, and for the growth of sports

I agree with that because we are small. I am just saying, let us have the discussion.

Lastly, the new IOC president Kirstin Conventry, is a former swimmer, you must be happy.

We definitely welcome and are very supportive of her. She is from Aquatics so we know her very well and are very happy that she is at the helm as the first lady and African. She was always one of the top contenders in the election.