Comedy is a big thing in Uganda these days, and everyday sees a new act join the fray. The likes of Pablo Kimuli, Patrick Idringi and Anne Kansiime have become household names and have laughed all the way to the bank.
But nobody has laughed to the bank more than the Federation of Uganda Football Associations, more commonly known by is acronym FUFA. We really should be crying at what’s going on in football, but grown men (and women) don’t cry, so let’s all have a big laugh as we count down the ways FUFA is a big joke.
First, for as long as I remember, there have been wrangles in FUFA, both internally and with outsiders, especially the government. An early memory brings back the face-off between the then FUFA President Ssemanobe and then Education and Sports Minister Amama Mushega. Fresh from the bush war, and still burning with revolutionary zeal, Mushega could not believe the way the football body was run with a complete lack of accountability to the public, on whose behalf it was supposed to be acting.
Every FUFA administration since then has kept the status quo, even as it fought to replace the incumbent by accusing it of corruption and lack of accountability. Obua had to go to prison before he could let go, and it took a superhuman effort to remove the man that replaced him, Mulindwa. And so came Moses Magogo, the man from Kamuli.
Magogo, a highly educated engineer, was seen as a breath of fresh air, different from the ‘potato growers’ that had brought football into such ill repute. But it turned out the joke was on us, and Magogo is the one that’s laughing now.
For a long time football bodies were sacrosanct, with the threat of a FIFA ban being enough to keep nosy people off. But then the FBI started investigating and arresting FIFA officials, and the cloak of invincibility was slowly removed. Sepp Blatter, who presided over the arguably most corrupt institution on earth, should really be in jail. Along with all association leaders that served under him.
The likes of FUFA, small associations in small countries in small corners of the world, probably didn’t feature much in big money deals, not enough to draw the attention of European investigators. But they must have featured somewhere in there, and I bet the FBI has that evidence. We would love to have a look at that evidence. It is on record that FIFA often gave cash ‘envelopes’ to Association heads, one time $50,000 famously found under their pillows at night.
Many of the FIFA big guns have since been removed, and several are in jail. But small associations like FUFA still regain the arrogance and air of untouchability that Blatter and his cronies wore for a long time, before it all came crashing down on them. And I dare say it will crash down on Magogo and his cronies, too.
For all the money FUFA gets from government and other sources, it has refused to give accountability. It has also refused to reveal just how much money it collects from national team matches. Indeed, it has refused to give any sort of accountability to anybody. In the meantime, it is embarrassing everybody by failing to pay its bills. In any ‘normal’ country, the fact that the coach of the national soccer team has not been paid for several months would have seen heads roll.
To make it worse, just before the Cranes-Comoros match, Magogo promised the players US$10,000 each if they won. Not only have they not got that money, but even the usual $2,000 bonus has not been forthcoming. But Magogo continues to hold press conferences and tell off the public.
But surely it is time to call FUFA’s bluff. Let us institute a commission of inquiry in all things FUFA, the threat of a ban notwithstanding. If the FBI can investigate FIFA without the US being banned, we can also bare all the dirt the Magogos have been covering up with arrogance.
The Cranes have not had their State House dinner yet, guess the President has been busy. But when it finally happens, maybe then we shall hear something substantial.
kalungikabuye 