Sports minister Peter Ogwang and Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) president Moses Magogo clashed before the Parliamentary Committee on Education over the presentation of a separate budget for Uganda’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) preparations.
The disagreement arose after the committee chairperson, James Kubeketerya, allowed Magogo—who is also a member of the committee—to present Fufa’s budget estimates for the 2027 Afcon tournament.
Ogwang immediately objected, questioning the legitimacy of the presentation and arguing that Fufa falls under the National Council of Sports (NCS), which had already submitted its budget estimates.
Before Magogo could proceed beyond the opening of his presentation, Ogwang challenged the move, saying the ministry had not been informed about the document.
“First, I am shocked as a minister because I know Fufa works under the National Council of Sports. I expected that such a presentation would have been brought to the knowledge of NCS,” Ogwang said.
“It is surprising that the Fufa president is making a presentation which I am not privy to. I asked the president of NCS if he was copied, but he has denied receiving it.”
Magogo, however, defended Fufa’s actions, insisting that the football governing body had followed the required procedures.
“As far as it is being raised by our colleagues that we never supplied them with our presentation, my records show that we copied NCS, and they can cross-check among themselves,” Magogo said.
The exchange came as Ogwang presented the Sub-Programme Budget Framework Paper for the Human Capital Development Programme to the Education Committee on Tuesday.
He revealed that the programme has been allocated an indicative budget of about Shs 9.6 trillion for the 2026/27 financial year, down from about Shs11.5 trillion in the current financial year.
“This represents a reduction of about Shs1.9 trillion from the current financial year,” Ogwang said, attributing the cut mainly to declining external financing and reduced domestic funding.
According to Ogwang, external financing is projected to drop by about Shs1.7 trillion, while domestic financing is expected to decline by about Shs191 billion.
He added that the indicative budget for the Education and Sports Sub-Programme stands at about Shs5.35 trillion, compared to about Shs5.56 trillion in the current year, representing a reduction of about Shs 209 billion.
Ogwang further told the committee that an additional Shs 1.9 trillion is required to fully deliver targets under the National Development Plan IV and the NRM Manifesto.
“For FY 2026/2027, the Ministry’s budget is projected at about Shs801 billion, reflecting a reduction of about Shs28 billion from the current budget of about Shs829 billion,” he said.
He explained that the non-wage recurrent budget has reduced by about Shs7.7 billion, the Government of Uganda development budget by about Shs2 billion, while external financing is projected to decline by about Shs18.1 billion.
“Honourable Members, as you may have noted, the current indicative budget does not provide for key commitments such as the enhancement of teachers’ salaries, preparatory activities for the Africa Cup of Nations, and the roll-out of free and compulsory Universal Primary Education,” Ogwang said.
Uganda is jointly hosting the tournament next year with neighbours Kenya and Tanzania under the Pamoja banner.