Clubs shouldn’t waste this golden chance to free themselves from Fufa

Immanuel Ben Misagga

You only need to have followed Ugandan football in the past few months to understand that club football is in the shackles of Fufa.

Fufa controls the sponsorship, registration, management and administration of all Uganda Premier League (UPL) clubs. On top of that, Fufa holds veto powers over any decision made by clubs.

I don’t think there is any country in the world where such an arrangement that I equate to slavery exists. But in Uganda, everything is possible.

Yet in spite of this glaring fact, the 16 UPL teams constitute 50 per cent of the Fufa 32-member body. 

Last week, the majority UPL club owners declared they had had enough of Fufa’s overbearing contro and manipulation. They sought to seek a higher office to release them from the shackles. 

I am greatly impressed that Bernard Atiku and Mwine Mpaka, the chairmen of Onduparaka FC and Mbarara City FC respectively, woke up and led nine other teams to challenge Fufa’s slave tendencies by petitioning the minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni.

As expected, Fufa rushed to diffuse the tension by summoning the disgruntled teams for a ceasefire meeting this Wednesday. This is like a leopard that tells it's cabs that they smell like a goat when it wants to eat them. The said meeting is just a public woodwink because no club will say anything FA gurus have been calling clubs to scare them and secondly they have called clubs which were promoted in the aborted league ( you won't see Proline, Maroon and Tooro United) 
 This is the first sign of Fufa’s recognition of the power that clubs have. Clubs it's the right moment to stand up and get your rights back, So, as the clubs meet the people who have milked them dry while taking all powers away from them, they need to be firm and resolute in the demand for autonomy. 

I know there are some clubs who have colluded to weaken the 11 clubs by siding with the oppressor simply because Fufa has offered them incentives but at the end of the day, the unity of 11 clubs should overshadow the betrayal of the five clubs.

Unfortunately, Vipers FC is among them yet for the past few years it has been at the wrong end of Fufa decisions. I understand the decision to award them the incomplete league title must have swayed the top leadership to side with the devil they know. 

The key issues to address in this meeting should revolve around the parasitic nature of running the game where we have the 16 UPL teams constituting 50 per cent of the Fufa membership yet when it comes to key positions, they are represented by one person on the nine-man Fufa executive, the same number as referees. 

Besides, there is no single opportunity within Fufa laws to allow these teams to meet and deliberate outside of the Fufa assembly, whose agenda is controlled by Fufa.

What clubs need is to be autonomous in making financial decisions right from sponsorship, where Fufa gets 20 per cent.

The biggest threat to autonomy is not Fufa the body but its machination to divide and rule the clubs, especially through alienating strong individuals they view as threats.

I’ve seen the likes of James Lukwago of Kira Young and most recently, Mujib Kasule of Proline and Smart Obed of Tooro United been thrown under the bus.

Even Musa Atagenda of Wakiso Giants could soon befall the same fate given his meteoric rise in which he has pumped millions to build his brand. Yet when in UPL, Fufa decides who should sponsor him to the extent of regulating how the team should run.

What hurts most is that these decisions are done by people who have never run a club to understand the financial constraint one endures. 

At the moment, the major issue is the Covid-19 funding from international bodies Fifa and Caf that Fufa has refused to pass on to the intended beneficiaries. 

How can Fufa explain the continued withholding of this money when there is no national team activity in the foreseeable future?

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