By Jjagwe Robert
There is currently some storm over the issues of Namboole Stadium all over the media. I have seen some interesting comments and chats about the on-going issues with Namboole Stadium and some negative minded people have again used this opportunity to point some fingers at Eng. Magogo, the President of Ugandan Football.
Then, i also said something the other day about the issue of Namboole Vs other smaller cheaper playing halls. For the record my comments were totally not about Football or Magogo, though again some negative minded people have jumped on them in reference to Magogo. I can see that Magogo really haunts their dreams. Lol.
The comments i made were honest, on principal and as per my beliefs. In summary I said that as we construct the huge – complicated – long term – expensive Sports infrastructure like Namboole, let us in the meantime also build the smaller – easier – short term and cheaper infrastructure like the 1 billion Ugx playing halls.
Many indoor games like Table Tennis, Volleyball, Boxing, Badminton, Basketball, Etc. can utilise just about 1 billion Ugx to get permanent training and competition halls built in just about 6 months each. We have about 45 Sports Federations which if given 1 billion can construct such Halls. The total cost would be only 45 billion Ugx as opposed to the much more expensive Namboole renovation that is costing about 97 billion Ugx. This was my point that I hope is now very clear.
But, allow me talk a bit also about Hon. Magogo Moses who happens to be an Electrical Engineer. I listened to my Colleague Magogo on the Thursday show called “Tutegere Omupiira” on the FUFA FM radio. I can tell you straight away that Magogo is a very bright man. Love him Hate him, he is very bright. When you listen to him speak on this show every Thursday, you can see the following attributes:
1. He is very brilliant in his responses. You cannot fail to understand what he is saying because the answers are well presented, streamlined, coordinated and with the English that many understand. These are signs of a man who understands his audience very well.
2. He does his research very well and he is very knowledgeable about his sport of football. There is nearly nothing he is asked that he cannot answer. He has gone to great lengths to learn about the game of Football which is visibly now well on his Finger tips
But what fascinates me the most about Eng. Magogo is that he has helped to get the following done in quite a short time:
1. He helped to repeal the obsolete and nearly no longer applicable Sports Act of 1964. Today we have a new Sports Act that allows for better commercialisation of Ugandan Sports for the great benefit of our players and coaches.
2. He has taken the FUFA budget from about 6 billion to over 40 billion Ugx in a space of just about 10 years.
3. He has helped FUFA acquire both a radio station and a TV Station thereby expanding FUFA revenue streams into the highly lucrative 24th Century Media especially Television.
4. He has successfully lobbied for Uganda to host the AFCON games of 2027. This has come with improved attention towards our Sports Sector as well as massive Sports infrastructure development and investment in the sector generally.
5. Of key importance, he has overseen the establishment of a very robust and highly effective FUFA Secretariat with over 60 staff now; including key departments like Marketing that is helping to tie down very lucrative sponsorships for the football sport.
Like I said, only negative minded people can fail to appreciate the above achievements. Many need to also know that definitely Magogo is not an Angel. He has his mistakes and shortcomings. But when you focus on those and fail to see the mega achievements above then for me you are simply not serious or you have other intensions that blind you from seeing very clear and obviously magnificent milestones for the football sport.
If I were a footballer in Uganda today, I would first always thank Magogo for the great things he has done above before quietly and amicably advising him on what he can do better. This would be the best way to encourage him to do more for the Football Sport instead of rushing to criticise him 24/7.
Sports people in Uganda love to criticize. But you just need to tell them to show what they have done or what they can do to match Magogo’s achievements and then you will quickly realise that many of them are simply negative minded people yet others just wish Magogo out of office so that they can also control the billions now flowing into FUFA. But I am not entirely sure that those billions would remain flowing towards Ugandan Football if Magogo left the helm of FUFA today.
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)
