DRASTIC recommendations were expected from the probe report into the mismanagement of Uganda’s team to the New Delhi Commonwealth Games. But that will not be the case.
Sources privy to the report reveal that rather than propose punitive measures for the culprits, the Geoffrey Kihuguru committee instead took the soft path.
“All we have are general recommendations meaning that whoever was to blame could go scot free,†noted the source.
Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) vice president Wilson Tumwiine headed Uganda’s team to the games last year.
Accusations of officials hosting wives in the Games village, unpaid allowances, suspect ticketing and poor kit distribution highlighted Uganda’s 20-day stay in New Delhi. Whether the report will be adopted, will be known tomorrow when it is presented as one of the key points at UOC’s general assembly at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
The probe committee for instance does not commit itself on whether there were intruders in Uganda’s camp. It attributes this to lack of enough proof.
Among the shocking findings of the commission was the vagueness of government’s funding for the Games. UOC submitted a budget to the education and sports ministry seeking funding for pre-training, uniforms and tickets.
But no one in UOC or National Council of Sports is aware how much money was approved or released.
All that is shown is that government provided 34 tickets and also paid the contingent’s allowances. Also unclear was the extent of support for Team Uganda by the Indian Community living in Uganda.
But a Rwenzori Beverages offer of 1000 cartons of water is cited. Only 310 cartons were delivered. The balance is supposed to have been converted into cash but there is no record of whether it was received and how it was used. The report dismisses as minor an incident where three team officials were involved in an accident late one night and hospitalised.
On the kit, the report notes that team members were informed well before departure that only athletics would receive a full set.
Was the UOC probe worth it?
