SPORTS BILL: Federations to incorporate, register under NCS
L-R: Sports minister Peter Ogwang, Fufa president Moses Magogo and the government chief whip Hamson Denis Obua during the debate on the sports bill in parliament. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
They also recommended that sports federations should declare the sources of their funds to avoid duplication of funding of activities by federations and to ensure there are no ill motives behind such funding.
The 2014 NCS (National Council of Sports) Statutory Instrument No.34 allowed for federations to register as trustees.
This was before they could be recognized by NCS as the bodies running their respective sports in the country.
Before this instrument, some registered as companies while others did not register at all.
The new National Sports Bill that was passed by Parliament last week on Thursday awaits the President's signature to become law.
In it, the law will require that federations get registered with just NCS.
In getting Parliament to accept this view, Fufa president Moses Magogo explained that the current terms have in the past aided warring factions in sports to register multiple federations for one sports discipline and that that could continue.
Magogo had on November 10, 2022 tabled the private member's National Sports Bill 2021 after government dilly-dallied with plans to repeal the NCS Act 1964.
Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, however, argued that registering and incorporating under NCS defeats implementation of recommendations 24 and 25 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent inter-government body, that promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering and terrorists financing among others.
Kiryowa had further argued that while NCS can regulate federations, it does not have the legal mandate to curb the aforementioned vices. He added that, like businesses that register under the Company's Act but work and get regulated under a different the Trade Act, federations can register in one legal regime and operate in another.
The Committee on Education and Sports also argued in a report, to harmonize Magogo's bill with the government one (Physical Activity and Sports Bill 2022), that federations that are deregistered by NCS could continue operating by virtue of their incorporation under the Company's Act.
They also recommended that sports federations should declare the sources of their funds to avoid duplication of funding of activities by federations and to ensure there are no ill motives behind such funding.
When the law is assented to by the President, the existing 51 federations will have 12 months to meet with NCS requirements.
