NCS Must Respect Parliamentary Ring Fencing

NCS Must Respect Parliamentary Ring Fencing

By Jjagwe Robert

I want to tell you that first, for sure I myself have some huge grievances with NCS, specifically Dr. Ogwel and how he is handling the fair development of our national federations (NFs).

I have my own grievance with Dr. Ogwel and he has the full details on this and the disenfranchisement that he meted out onto my own Sport after several promises that turned out to be false and/or hot air and i have written to him officially already to clarify on this issue.

The She Cranes national netball team players during the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Courtesy photo.

Dr. Ogwel told me in 2019 that he is looking forward to a time when all NFs start the financial year knowing how much they have as budget support. This is exactly what Parliament has done for all our NFs. I am therefore surprised that there is resistance to this development by some individuals and i need Dr. Ogwel to come clean on whether he supports it or not.

I have consistently told Dr. Ogwel for the past 3 years that he needs to avail fair funding to all NFs to see their fair development. One thing that i have come to appreciate that must stop is the idea that he is the one to determine how much funding goes to which NF.

Uganda Basketball side in the EASSA Games. Courtesy photo.

There are serious problems with this and i do not want to get into that here. I will handle it when all avenues for an amicable understanding have failed.

Allow me deal with the current dilemma where some NFs believe NCS must respect the Ring Fencing and others believe (albeit illegally) that it should abrogate it.

I can see there is an intensifying of the following positions:

1. Several requests to NCS to respect the Parliamentary Ring Fencing

2. Several requests to NCS, specifically Dr. Ogwel to come clean on whether he is going to respect the Ring Fencing or not.

3. In line with number 3 above, a request to Dr. Ogwel to clarify on the delay to release funding to the NFs after receiving it from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and if the same will follow the Parliamentary Percentage Distribution/ Appropriation.

4. Some NFs coming out to defend the defiance of NCS for the Parliamentary Ring Fencing while others are urging NCS to respect it.

Allow me make the communication on the above as below:

(a) Why some of us are in full support of the Parliamentary Ring Fencing?

For so many years NCS has promised to finalise the Funding Guidelines and it turned out that either this was a lie and actually NCS was never in support of finalizing those Funding guidelines or the process of finalizing those guidelines was simply too slow either intentionally or otherwise.

(b) What was the Impact of Lack of the Funding Guidelines?

The overall impacts of the lack of the funding guidelines were as follows:

Our NFs were funded very unfairly with some taking all our Sports Funding while others were always given very little or just pea nuts or actually nothing.

Even some of those currently complaining about their very small allocation told me several times that they had spent over 3 years without being given any Substantial development financing. Many had and have spent over 4 years and that time the total amount they have received cannot even reach Ugx20m.

Sports funds were always distributed according to what some individual(s) at NCS considered as priorities. And yet if any one asked any NF, they would get a clear Communication that all NFs always had their own priorities.

And it was therefore wrong for just one individual or a few individuals to determine for all NFs which activities were priorities and which ones were not (especially in the absence of a round table discussion on this issue as demanded several times by our NFs)

The overall impact was an imbalanced development of the Sports sector where some NFs were selectively favored and funded for their IF games and those started shinning while others were not funded for their IF games and they lagged behind.

Note:

That despite repeated pleas to NCS, the funding distribution was always kept secretive even when in one of our Sports Forums we resolved in the presence of our Minister that the funds distribution be ironed out on a round table.

(c) Is the current Appropriation fair?

No the current appropriation is not fair because clearly there are NFs with too much funding while others have very little.

(d) Should we as the Sports Sector go with the Current Parliamentary Appropriation?

Yes because of the following reasons:

1.It is the closest we have for now in as far as Funding Guidelines are concerned.

 

2. After receiving several complaints from NFs, the MPs came up with the current Appropriation / Distribution to ensure that at least all NFs get some funding in the year.

 

3. As from point (b) above, the NCS funding criteria was never shared with our NFs despite repeated pleas on the same. Therefore since the one of Parliament is at least openly shared with everybody, we ought to go with it as a clear signal that this is the right way to handle this matter every year going forward.

(e) Are Some NFs justified in their support for NCS’s defiance of the Parliamentary Appropriation?

No and this is very dangerous for such NFs due to the following:

1. No Ugandan should ever engage in the habit of supporting another to break the law. Parliament by law makes budget appropriations. Any attempt to circumvent this is illegal in nature and anyone who does it together with their supporters can be liable to prosecution. I therefore urge NFs to desist from this kind of talk.

2.Parliament is an Authority of its own and can actually enforce its directives (in this case the Appropriation) in one way or another. Take note that Government of Uganda is made of the Executive (The President and his Ministers), the Judiciary (The Judges and Magistrates or generally the Courts of Law) and thirdly the Legislature (This is Parliament).

 

3.In the past we have complained about the apparent Ring Fencing of funds for some NFs that were called “Priority Sports“. But our complaints were ignored and the Ring fenced monies went to those NFs anyway. Now when Parliament has extended that Ring Fencing to other NFs, NCS cannot circumvent it.

Indeed already an official letter(s) have gone to NCS to this effect just so there is enough documentary evidence and follow up on the same. In simple terms, NCS having respected the issue of “Ring Fencing” when it was applied to a few NFs, it cannot now refuse to respect it when it has been extended to all other NFs.

In effect NCS put a rope around its neck and now it has to respect the Ring Fencing just like it has been doing in the past. Any deviation from this opens a Pandora’s Box and becomes a clear illegality which can be potentially catastrophic to any individual(s) who participate in the same.

NCS should have listened to some of us in the past and dealt with the Ring Fencing dilemma decisively.

(f) What needs to be done?

All NFs need to embrace the Parliamentary Ring Fencing first so that it is very clear that going forward, there must always be a Funds distribution formula / criteria / Appropriation and not distribution of our Sports Funds based on the thinking or will or individualised prioritisation of an individual or a few individuals who can very easily turn it all into a scheme for their own selfish interests.

Following this, then all NFs can collectively advocate for a fairer distribution of funds as well as increased funding to the Sector. And this time the increased funding should go to the underfunded NFs instead of again adding to those already heavily funded.

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

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