FUFA is now limited company

By Douglas Mazune

FUFA has been registered as a company in an attempt to give it the legal status required to manage and control professional football, officials have said.

Football governing body FUFA has said that to nullify queries on their right to transact business and because of difficulty getting sponsorship, they had secured a certificate of incorporation.

The registration number 112638 is for FUFA as a private company limited by guarantee.

FUFA executive member Moses Magogo argued that sports the world over is now run in a commercialised environment and they were having difficulty conducting football business without a legal existence.

“We need to sign contracts with other partners, we need to own property and get credit among other things which you cannot do if you are not a corporate body. There was no way we were going to carry on,” he said.

“Sport generally has outgrown the 1964 NCS Act that deals with an amateur association.”

National Council of Sports head Jasper Aligawesa and FUFA president Lawrence Mulindwa are guarantors of the company while the 19 FUFA executive committee members, including the president are directors.

The directors are charged with running the federation in accordance with the FUFA constitution and Memorandum of understanding and articles of association.

Mulindwa and Aligawesa are guarantors by virtue of occupation of their offices and serve for a four-year-term as per the FUFA constitution.

Legally, a guarantee company does not have shares. The members of the company do not own the company but are the decision makers for the company. The district associations and special interest groups are the owners of FUFA Limited.

Profits of the company cannot be distributed to the members through dividends and they do not have any claim upon the assets of the company.

“Guarantee companies are useful for non-profit organisations that require corporate status,” said an official knowledgeable in company matters.

“Where an organisation is likely to enter into contracts it may need the benefit of limited liability to protect its Board of Trustees and members, who may be involved on a voluntary basis,”

Another expert however countered that “Football involved many stakeholders it should have been a Public Limited Company.”

“There is now limited control from outside FUFA. Will government support now go to a private organisation? I haven’t seen their articles of association and memorandum of understanding but I hope they are not accountable to only themselves.”