Yasser Kalyango
21 October 2008
Kampala — Charles Masembe's world has been a difficult place to live in the last fortnight.
Shortly after the Fufa Chief Executive Officer (CEO) brazenly and deceitfully declared that Uganda Cranes had qualified on various FM radio stations, Masembe was implicated in a scam where he is alleged to have issued a Fufa letter to a person seeking to travel to the United Kingdom for greener pastures and not federation work.
And Daily Monitor has now learnt that Masembe's alleged conduct is to be probed. "It's a very sensitive matter and the authorities at Fufa have decided to investigate the matter," a highly placed source at Mengo said on condition of anonymity. The federation, the source added, has already contacted the British High Commission regarding the matter.
UK applicants
"We have requested them (High Commission) to give us a list of all the people who have traveled to UK in the last two years under the disguise of being Fufa officials. We should be able to come up with the final verdict on the case soon," the source added. The Fufa CEO is said to have written a cover letter for an applicant who wanted to travel to the United Kingdom for a refereeing course.
When asked about the probe, Fufa president Lawrence Mulindwa neither confirmed nor denied it. "That is a matter for the executive to decide. But we shouldn't abuse the office because it belongs to all Ugandans," said Mulindwa. Efforts to get a comment from the CEO were futile as his mobile phone was switched off.
Masembe is a former Fifa referee who officiated the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations final between South Africa and Tunisia. He also officiated at the 1994, and 1998 Africa Cup of Nations. His rising star was at its peak in 1998 when he officiated at a third straight Nations Cup and was prominent on the list of African referees for the World Cup in France.
But Masembe was promptly struck off the list after some poor performances with the whistle in the latter stages of the 1998 Nations Cup tournament in Tunisia. Masembe was a popular choice when Mulindwa chose him as CEO but he has grown unpopular in the last few weeks.
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