Why the new NCS board needs to revise sports federation funding allocations

Summary
Total Sports Allocation 2021= Shs10.2 billion
Allocation to FUFA = Shs5 billion
Allocation to NCS = Shs3.6 billion
Allocation to remaining 50 Federations = Shs2 billion


The above breakdown of sports funds expenditure is quite revealing of some things some of us have been saying several times and I hope the new National Council of Sports (NCS) board is closely following. But in case it is not very clear, these are the observations and revelations of that expenditure breakdown:

As I have been saying all along, the FUFA Shs10 billion can be discussed amicably on a round table so that other Federations can also get regular quarterly assistance to help their Athletes and Coaches.
 
Now we have the proof. FUFA received only Shs5 billion instead of Shs10 billion as per the Presidential Directive. So who changed the Presidential directive, when and why? Is this the new Directive now, that FUFA will be getting Shs5 billion down from Shs10 billion, or is the Presidential Directive non-existent?

If there is not enough money for everybody, including NCS itself and then the total disbursement of Shs10.2 billion to sports has to be re-negotiated so that key stakeholders like NCS itself can survive, doesn’t this mean that for all years when there is not enough funding for everybody, this re-negotiation should be the way to go?

So how comes it is done only when a key stakeholder like NCS is facing financial starvation but it is not done when Sports Federations are also facing starvation? because if FUFA had taken all its Shs10 billion then NCS would also get Zero or just peanuts of only the remaining Shs0.2 billion.

How comes in cases when the sports funding is not enough, still some federations receive zero, others just peanuts, but in this last case, the FUFA allocation had to be re-negotiated so that certain entities like NCS still get their full yearly entitlement of Shs3.6 billion?

So what is the minimum entitlement of the actual sports federations with the country’s athletes, for whom the sports funds are released in the first place? Is it Ok that NCS has a minimum entitlement but the Federations with the actual athletes do not?

If the Shs10 billion FUFA allocation can be re-negotiated to ensure that the NCS minimum entitlement is met, what about also ensuring the minimum allocation to the Federations with the actual Athletes of the Nation?

If the FUFA allocation (based on a non-existent Shs10 billion directive) can be re-negotiated when funds are not enough (like is always the case anyway) then why can’t we have this as the normal routine to ensure that all Federations are also funded every quarter?

With 51 Federations, a minimum allocation of Shs40 million to each one per quarter means about Shs2 billion expenditure per quarter. Can anyone be so selfish as to convince us all that this is impossible and therefore some Federations can get Shs5 billion, others Shs551 million, others Shs185 million, Shs181 million while the rest can starve away on their peanuts and zero allocations?

I need the New NCS Chairman and his team to understand that this greed, selfishness, and unfairness which is also enshrined in a lot of evil will explode badly under God’s watchful eye. Already we got a taste of how bad it can get in Netball, one of the beneficiaries of the unfair starvation of other Federations.

So again please and kindly, let the funding guidelines be completed and each Federation can know how much it budgets for every year and every quarter. The FUFA Shs10 billion is fully negotiable as per the above evidence. But if some people still think it is OK to be so greedy and unfair to others, then that’s also fine. We continue. And if it explodes badly, let no one say, the warnings were not on the wall and shared openly with several pleas.

And I hope that we are all aware that with just about four months left to the Commonwealth Games, teams have not started preparations yet due to lack of funding but we can see Federations that are not at all in contention for these games being allocated very huge sums of money. Examples are Football and Skating. But the country is heading into those games and the expectation is medals. But how do medals come when the funds are heavily allocated to Federations without any participation in those games?  

So tell me again which funding guidelines exactly are we following? Do you see how messed up this entire situation is..?? Like I said, if our key people still see nothing wrong with these things, then that’s fine, we proceed.

The Writer is Robert Jjagwe, the President of the Uganda Table Tennis Association (UTTA) and Secretary-General of the Union of Uganda Sports Federations and Associations (UUSFA).