Obua advises sports federations on funding

FOOTBALL   NCS   

Newly appointed State Minister in charge sports Denis Hamson Obua has advised federations to look for alternative means of getting funds to run their respective disciplines as an additional source to what the government provides through the National Council of Sports.

Obua, a member of parliament for Ajuri County in Alebtong district in Northern Uganda shared this piece of advice on Tuesday during his inaugural visit to the Council offices at Lugogo.

"Besides government funding through the National Council of Sports, which I believe is not enough, I want to advise the federations to look for additional sources of money to help them run the increasing activities," Obua advised.

He believes there is a lot of money federations can obtain through corporate sponsorships from the increasing corporate firms in Uganda due to the stability the NRM government has availed in the country.  

Obua (right) confers with NCS Chairman John Bosco Onyik during his familiarisation tour of the NCS facility and meeting with staff at Lugogo, January 21, 2020.

"In other countries, sport is run by private institutions but we are happy that in Uganda the government is fully supporting all the disciplines,"

"However, I want to advise the federations that before they wait for funds from NCS, how about engaging corporates for sponsorship? We have many companies here which they can approach and sign sponsorship deals and in doing so bring money in,"

"They are willing to invest in sports, and as government, we are going to help in lobbying for these federations," he suggested.

The vocal minister also warned that federations with no clear agendas, locations, and proper accountability stand high chances of not receiving a single coin from the state.

State Sports Minister Denis Hamson Obua (center), sports commissioner Sam Odong (center-Middle) and other Ministry of Education and Sports staff pose with NCS Chairman John Bosco Onyik (left), General Secretary Patrick Ogwel (right) and assistant general secretary David Katende (3rd right) during the ministers' familiarisation tour of the NCS facility and meeting with staff at Lugogo, January 21, 2020.

"There has been an issue of federations receiving money from the government but what they do with it is not clear. Some don't even have proper addresses. We are going to access all of them and whoever will not present satisfactory accountability risks not receiving a single coin from the government," he warned.

He went on to stress that there is a high need to develop sports infrastructures. He called for renovating the already existing ones as well as putting new ones in place.

Obua was appointed by His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in the new cabinet reshuffle replacing long-serving minister Honorable Charles Bakabulindi.