Members Trust to run SC Villa activities

The SC Villa interim committee will on October 30 unveil the ‘Villa Members Trust’ that they hope will streamline the club ownership and governance questions that have dogged the club for years.

Interim Committee chairman William Nkemba in the company of vice-chairman Denis Mbidde, founder members Fred ‘Guy’ Kawuma, Dan Busuulwa, Eriab Kamya, and FUFA Deputy CEO Humphrey Mandu told a press conference in Kampala that the trust is incorporated under the Trustee Incorporation Act as a body-corporate.

He said the board of trustees shall be the custodians of the Villa Members Trust (VMT) and membership to the VMT shall be for those persons who subscribe annually to its membership on paying an inaugural fee of sh50, 000/-

“The members of the VMT shall be entitled to vote for the president of the club every four years and that will guarantee them also an individual seasonal ticket whose subscription is for the entire season for the home games hosted by Villa,” Nkemba who has steered the committee for the last three years said.

“The current and future fixed assets of SC Villa shall be owned by the VMT. It is the members of the trust that will own SC Villa and it’s only the members who will have a say in the affairs of SC Villa,”

He said this officially transforms SC Villa to be a community club and this had received the approval and concurrency of the founding members.

“The VMT will officially launch on October 30 and registration will continue from then on to December 31 for the season 2020-2021. This arrangement is open to all those that wish Villa well and would like to participate and be part of SC Villa, which gives them the ownership of the club,” Nkemba stated.

He said only those that will be members of Villa will have a say on Villa affairs and it’s them that will decide the direction of the club.

“Within the registered trust, there will be a club congress that will constitute the general assembly of the club as per requirements of FUFA. Congress is a body within the trust that shall be the supreme body for the club affairs.

“None the less there will be a club executive committee that shall be the executive body of the club composed of the president who would have been elected by the entire membership of Villa and who will pick his executive from the club congress,” Nkemba added.

The inaugural club congress shall constitute not more than 120 persons. The club president will pick his executive from the membership of the congress. The congress will be the supreme governing body for the sporting arm of the trust which is the club and will form its general assembly.

The club president shall be elected after every four years by the VMT members and he shall lead the club executive committee. He will be accountable as far as the sporting aspect of the trust is concerned with the general assembly which is the congress, according to the new guidelines.

The club in its structure will also employ a CEO who shall head the club secretariat and whose role will be the day-to-day running of the club as supported by other administrative and other technical staff.

Nkemba said in the three years they have been able to restore the club to an upward sporting trajectory and also secured an office for the club on 6th street Industrial Area-Channel Close.

It is at this office that manual registration of members will commence as they finalise with online platforms to enable everybody regardless of location to be able to register including those that want to become members of the trust.

“We believe that this arrangement will solve the ownership challenges and the governance structure that we shall put in place will be for the club’s posterity.

 “We also hope that this will give impetus to the zeal that our fans have always exhibited and that it will propel us to scale the heights where we are known to be,” Nkemba vowed.

“For the congress that is within the structure of the trust, the selection will be on application but there will also be criteria that will also involve an annual subscription at a premium among other issues for you to be able to subscribe to be considered for the 120-man congress”.

Villa is the most decorated team in Uganda with 16 Superleague championships, and was runners up in the CAF championship cup, Confederations cup, three-time CECAFA Club Championships, and are nine-time Uganda Cup holders. Despite that decorum from the past, the team has traversed bad patches on and off the pitch of late.