The Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa has tipped the select committee investigating the operations of the National Council of Sports (NCS) to summon players of the different national sports disciplines, saying their experiences could cure the alleged mismanagement.

“Speak to the players, the referees and umpires, you will be shocked. You will understand their challenges with the council and the sports federations,” said Basalirwa who was appearing before the select committee as a key witness on Thursday, 14 December 2022.

The select committee, chaired by the National Woman Representative for Persons with Disabilities, Hon. Laura Kanushu, is investigating the reported mismanagement of funds at the council, following a motion moved by Basalirwa on 10 November 2022.

The alleged financial crisis, characterised by delayed releases, budget cuts has seen the national soccer team withdraw from key international contests such as, the  African Nations Championship (CHAN) in early 2023 in Algeria.

Basalirwa described the withdrawal as an international embarrassment, and a move that will not only drop the rankings of Uganda Cranes internationally but also attract sanction.

 “We are now facing a national scandal – that Uganda Cranes is withdrawing from CHAN. But how can we withdraw from a continental competition? This story and that of She Cranes in Australia will be big international embarrassments,” said Basalirwa.

He said he found out that the finance ministry is largely liable for the ‘crises in the sports sector, saying they do not appropriate budgets as approved by Parliament.

“The finance ministry is the becoming a very big obstacle to the sports sector, Parliament appropriates money but the ministry sits somewhere and makes budget cuts; this is unconstitutional,” Basalirwa added.

He also faulted the National Council of Sports which he said was not releasing funds to the different sports federations as appropriated by Parliament.

“We also found out that the National Council of Sports was not giving federations money as appropriated by Parliament. When they make releases they go to non-priority areas; you find payment of contractors is made promptly but financial commitments to federations were not being made promptly, yet they are key in management of sports.

The Minister of State for Planning, Amos Lugoloobi, who also appeared before the same committee said his ministry has only released 36 per cent of the budget as opposed to the desired 50 per cent release by this year.

“The ministry has so far released a total of Shs 17.61billion to the council to facilitate wages and the various sports federations. This presents 36.83 per cent of the approved budget,” said Lugoloobi.

Legislators were irked that the sports sector’s potential is being crippled and proposed that henceforth, each sports federations’ budget is ring fenced and coded at the level of appropriation by Parliament, as it was noted that currently it’s the council that decides the allocation to federations.

Hon. Iddi Isabirye (NRM, Bunya County South) said the persistent delays in release of funds is questionable since the sports calendars are static. He noted that the sports federations revealed to the committee that at times, they are forced to borrow money to participate in some crucial games.

“The federations were crying, some of them reach to the extent of borrowing money from money lenders. Sometimes players travel abroad without money, only to be provided in the middle of the games,” said Isabirye.

The committee has so far interfaced with the Federation of Uganda Football Associations, Uganda Boxing Federation, Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations and the Uganda Paralympic Committee.

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Over 800 South Sudanese benefitted from the Digital and Innovations Skills Hub (DISH), an e-learning platform that provides access to youth as well as women to develop employment skills.

The project, implemented by Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) with support from the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education (NUFFIC), had four online training courses.

“The objective of DISH is to increase enrolment in certificate education in order to increase employment possibilities. Especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, youth and women face challenges to find employment, while employers struggle to employ people with matching skills in fast-growing sectors in the employment market,” said Peter Bidali Elias, CEPO’s officer in-charge of the project.

He added, “The opportunities and sectors of employment have been identified through research by the partners in earlier programmes which identified key employment sectors for youth”.

Through DISH, online short certificate courses, which included Business Administration, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Peace Building and primary school teaching, were created and made available.

According to Bidali, these three-month certificate courses increase the employability of youth and women because they link to key emerging sectors in employment and contribute to stability, peace and resilience.

“This is to increase enrolment in certificate education in order to enhance employment possibilities in youth and women across the country,” he said.

The certificate in Business Administration course attracted 431 students, Peace Building had 386, Primary School Teaching with 161 and ICT got 88.

Perina Juye, a Business Administration student, said she learnt a lot from the course, especially key considerations when one intends to open a business.

“My advice is that learning sessions should be more interactive,” she urged.

For his part, Martin Seree, a student of Basic ICT said the e-learning platform will provide access to youth as well as women to develop employment skills.

“During the course, I was able to acquire a lot of networking skills, learned operating systems and other IT related skills that I lacked,” he explained.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, youth and women faced challenges in employment as employers struggled to find skilled people.

The latest World Population Review ranks South Sudan as the third lowest in literacy rate in world and thus anticipated that DISH courses will bridge that gap by focusing on low-threshold e-learning courses, which can be used in online and offline digital learning on a variety of devices and settings. 

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The Director of Sir Apollo Kaggwa Schools, Hajji Musa Sewava is dead. Sewava passed on earlier in the morning.

According to a source related to his family, the entrepreneur died of a stroke. He will be laid to rest at his ancestral home at 4pm in Buloba, Mityana Road.

Hajji Musa was the proprietor of Sir Apollo Kaggwa Schools spread across Kampala, with branches in Kisasi, Mengo, Nakasero, Kitintale, Kireka and other places.

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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today held a ground-breaking ceremony to kick off the construction of their multi-million-dollar joint office premises in Mbuya, a Kampala suburb.

The UNICEF and WFP joint premises will enable the two agencies to reduce long-term operational costs while giving their staff a safe and healthy work environment so that they can be more productive to serve the most vulnerable populations in Uganda.

The joint premises will strengthen WFP and UNICEF partnership and make it easier to implement programmes that the UN agencies are delivering jointly, including social protection for refugees and host communities, school feeding and addressing malnutrition in Karamoja.

“These joint premises are a reflection of our commitment in Uganda to deliver as one UN, working together to maximise the use of our resources while giving our best to the people we serve,” Susan Ngongi Namondo, the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda said.

Situated on a UNICEF leased land of 2.6 acres, the premises will feature parking space, health amenities, gender-sensitive services such as breast-feeding rooms, green gardens and a separate conference facility. Special focus will be given to making sure the premises are energy efficient, making maximum use of natural light and using renewable energy sources such as solar. It will also provide for sewage treatment, water recycling and rainwater harvesting.

The building has been designed and will be built to save 20 percent on energy use, water consumption and material used in the building. This will afford the building an EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) certificate from the IFC-World Bank, a global standard for green building.

This will be achieved by a combination of measures that will include solar power in the building, improved insulation of the wall, natural ventilation of the offices, water recycling, rainwater harvesting and sewage treatment. The scheme also targets to retain over 50 percent of the greenery and trees in the landscape, while minimising the building’s carbon footprint. The building will feature energy-efficient installations and water appliances.

“UNICEF Uganda has been working towards positive climate action and with this new construction we show once again that we walk the talk,” M. Munir A. Safieldin, UNICEF Uganda Country Representative, said. “UNICEF is proud of today’s achievement. When we move into the premises, we shall be able to save on rent and operational costs. Money should be spent on ensuring safe and healthy future for boys and girls in the country.

As the multi-million-dollar project goes into procuring construction materials and paying for services, the project will contribute to the national economy. It will create jobs for an estimated 200 people, including women and young people, will be involved in both technical construction work and providing services such as preparing food. UNICEF and WFP aim to use locally available construction materials and will ensure that the building is easily accessible by all staff and visitors including those with disabilities.

“We are building premises that will reflect our values as an inclusive and environmentally conscious United Nations. The United Nations is already a great place to work, and these premises will create an even better environment for our staff – enabling them to deliver on the UN goals no matter what,” WFP Uganda Country Representative, Abdirahman Meygag said. “Whether it is our pregnant and breastfeeding staff and clients or people with disability, we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace while minimising our carbon footprint.”

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