James Bakama
5 July 2009
column
Kampala — PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni should be commended for rewarding the Cranes for their recent CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup triumph.
The gesture, similar to a 1990 presidential reward for a similar feat, could after all be proof that Museveni cares for the country's poverty stricken sportsmen.
Each of the national side's 20 players and five officials in 1990 walked away with a cool sh0.5m. The money could at the time buy a plot of land in Kampala's prime outskirts.
It's not long ago that star athlete Dorcus Inzikuru was also rewarded with a bungalow in Arua. Davis Kamoga had earlier also walked out of State House with sh5m.
The footballers this time pocketed $3000 (sh6m) each. They could have however easily left State House with only dinner and a national team bus to talk about if midfielder Steven Bengo had not cheekily mentioned their financial woes.
Museveni then directed the 14 players to each write out their problems and how best they could be solved. Simeon Masaba, the day's captain, delivered the write ups to the President's Principal Private Secretary Amelia Kyambadde a week later.
Presidential press secretary Tamale Mirundi revealed last week that the footballers could on top of the cash offers also be rewarded with residential houses.
But rather than be greeted with celebration from the entire football fraternity, the offer has instead sparked off serious debate.
The bond of contention is in how the exercise was conducted. Apparently, only 12 of the squad of 20 players that featured in the tournament were rewarded.
If the same list is used, then the eight players who missed out on the cash are also about to miss houses!
Since Masaba failed to clarify that the players at State House didn't constitute the full CECAFA squad, then local soccer governing body FUFA should do so in the interest of those who missed out.
Failure to do so could lead to serious rifts in the national side.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
