FUFA embroiled in strategic mishaps

By James Bakama AFRICAN culture accords special status to visitors. They are supposed to be warmly welcomed, hosted in honour before being bade farewell. This, has however not been the case for foreign sides currently here for the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup. Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti contingents had barely warmed their beds when they were thrown out of their hotels. Reason-FUFA had not paid their bills. There was a taint of sadism in what followed. Burundi missed meals and training sessions resulting in postponement of their match against equally troubled Somalia hence an awkward early morning kick-off on Sunday. Africa's once leading regional soccer competition seems to have degenerated into a torture competition if these events are anything to go by. But why the mess? The blunder prone Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) is of course to blame, though this time it shares the blame with CECAFA and National Council of Sports (NCS). Greed within CECAFA started it all. The cashstrapped regional body's general secretary Hassan Haji should have known better than demand for $150,000, double the figure that South African television DTB were offering as the tournament's TV rights. Haji's demand was rejected and a chance was lost. NCS, the supreme sports body in Uganda, should have intervened at this point by asking for a concrete financial guarantee as proof that FUFA were capable hosts. But all NCS seems to have done was to ask for a verbal guarantee, which they certainly got. Gate collections, an area where Ugandans have lately been an embarrassment, thus remained, as FUFA's only financial hope. From then, it was just a matter of time before the circus would begin. But the mess could have been avoided if FUFA had again not fallen prey to it's traditional weakness of standing in for countries that fail to host. Tanzania, which was initially supposed to host the event, pulled due to financial problems. FUFA should think twice next time. Fame is not inherent in the quantity but quality of tournaments that a country stages. Ends.