Isiagi calls for support

Apr 06, 2005

PROPOSED members on the FUFA Normalisation Committee have called for support from all soccer stakeholders including pressure group SOS, if stability in the game is to be restored.

By James Bakama and Sabiiti Muwanga

PROPOSED members on the FUFA Normalisation Committee have called for support from all soccer stakeholders including pressure group SOS, if stability in the game is to be restored.

Patrick Isiagi, Kavuma Kabenge and Justus Mugisha all expressed their readiness to serve on the committee but appealed for teamwork.

Committee head Dr. James Sekajugo and another member Trevor Dudley are yet to make up their minds. Sekajugo has up to tomorrow to make his position known to FIFA.

Isiagi, secretary of the committee FIFA appointed, invited football pressure group SOS to join the committee.

Save Our Soccer (SOS), architects of the storm that resulted in the suspension of the FUFA executive and imprisonment the football body’s boss Denis Obua, have not hidden their detest for the composition of the committee.

But Isiagi, a former treasurer of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), appealed for SOS cooperation. “Everyone’s idea will be taken in the best way possible,” he promised.

“We should avoid antagonising each other and get down to work for the good of the game,” advised Kabenge.

Mugisha said he knew exactly what had killed Ugandan soccer and could help in getting a solution. “Football is dying because of infighting. I could help bridge a consensus.”

“I am carefully weighing all facts before deciding,” noted Dudley explaining that his decision will put into account his busy Kampala Kids League schedule in Kampala, Gulu and Europe over the next three months.

The committee has the task of drafting new FUFA statutes, which will be approved by FIFA, and organising for grassroot and national elections before December 31 on top of managing the game.
Education and sports state minister Charles Bakkabulindi yesterday stressed the importance of Government’s involvement.

In a statement released in Saudi Arabia where the minister accompanied the Uganda team for the Islamic Solidarity Games, Bakkabulindi rejected the FIFA proposal. This could lead to a ban from the Zurich bosses.

“It is to the Normalisation Committee that is agreed upon by Ugandans, the Government and FIFA that Government will, as a major stakeholder in football, honour its stakeholder obligations including clearance for organising games that include our national teams and clubs; security, law and order, and stadia among others,” Bakkabulindi said.

Government sacked the FUFA executive led by Obua last month for allegedly mismanaging the local soccer governing body and mandated National Council of Sports to run the game.

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