The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has approved amendments to its statutes following an Extraordinary General Assembly, with Legal Director Denis Lukambi saying the changes were necessary to align the federation’s governing document with the requirements of Uganda’s National Sports Act and accompanying regulations.
Speaking after delegates unanimously endorsed the amendments during the virtual assembly held on Thursday, Lukambi said the revisions were largely driven by provisions contained in the National Sports Regulations.
“The National Sports Regulations provide that the constitution of a national sports federation or association must include specific clauses. The way these clauses are worded in the regulations, they were effectively a copy and paste into our FUFA statutes,” Lukambi said.
According to the legal chief, a review of the statutes identified several areas that did not fully comply with the new legal framework.
“There are about six clauses that were missing. These have now been resolved and submitted to the delegates of FUFA who approved unanimously all the proposed amendments to the FUFA statutes,” he added.
Lukambi also highlighted a significant change in the federation’s approach to dispute resolution. He explained that FUFA will now direct disputes to Uganda’s national sports arbitration system in line with the National Sports Act, rather than referring them to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Previously, we referred disputes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a federation. The recommendation now is that we refer all matters relating to disputes to national sports arbitration in accordance with the National Sports Act,” he said.
He further revealed that the approval by delegates was only one step in the compliance process, with the amended statutes now set to be submitted to the National Council of Sports for review and approval.
“After here, we are going to submit our statutes to the National Council of Sports for further approval so that we comply entirely with the law to be registered as a national sports federation,” Lukambi said.
The Extraordinary General Assembly approved amendments to Articles 1, 24, 36, 67, 68, 74, 75 and 91 of the FUFA statutes as the federation continues efforts to align its governance structures with the country’s sports legislation.
