Embrassing news coming in indicates that the Uganda basketball team, the Silverbacks have been reportedly denied to check out from the Park Inn Hotel in Kigali until they have paid up all their debt.
The Silverbacks have been participating at the 2021 AfroBasket championship in Kigali, but yesterday their incredible journey came to an end after Cape Verde defeated them 79-71 in the quarter finals.
The team has been accommodated and feeding on credit at Park Hotel. According to reports, the team owes the hotel a total of Shs360 million, their detention at the hotel is going to attract more charges due to overstay.
Earlier this week, the Federation Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) President Nasser Sserunjogi wrote to the Ministry of Education and Sports and National Council of Sports requesting for bailout money as they (FUBA) had run short of excuses.
“We have tried as much as possible to keep the situation away from the team such that they can focus on playing the game, however we have run out of time.
We are afraid if this happens, we shall be embrassed as a nation. We request the government of Uganda to bail us out,” said Sserunjogi in a letter.
Before the team left for Kigali, Government through the National Council of Sports today handed over a tune of $93,506 (about Shs330 million) to FUBA as funding to Silverbacks for preparation and participation. Nonetheless, FUBA’s budget for tournament was about Shs500m as they had arrears to clear from the qualification stage.
However, gov’t maintains it doesn’t have any money for them.