The National Council of Sports(NCS) has reiterated commitment by the Ugandan government to support the development of the game of woodball in the country.
Speaking during the annual general meeting of the Uganda Woodball Federation (UWbF) in Kampala on Saturday, David Katende, the NCS assistant general secretary hailed the federation for efforts to develop the sport, noting that government is ready to support them in all ways possible.
“You are one of the lucky federations to have such good leaders who are committed to the development of the game. As government, we have the good will to support you as we can. Our only limitation is the size of the resource envelope but also long as we are able to mobilise enough funds, we shall support you,” Katende said.
“As NCS who stand in for government, we pledge to continue supporting the woodball federation.”
Accountability
The NCS assistant general secretary however warned that despite government willingness to fund the woodball federation, this is pegged on accountability.
“If you are not interested in accounting for government money, don’t ask for it. Because of what has happened and is still happening, government is now taking, the office of the Auditor General is going to extend its tentacles into your federations. This is not going to be very long from today.”Katende said.
He explained that the move by the Auditor General to start looking into activities of sports federations is meant to ensure accountability for the monies given to them by government.
The National Council of Sports said accountability will be required for funds received from both government and other sources by the sports federations.
Speaking during the annual general meeting, the Uganda Woodball Federation(UWbF) president, Mark Paul Kayongo highlighted a number of milestones reached at in the previous year.
He told the meeting that the national woodball team participated in the International Woodball Online Outdoor championship in which the female team emerged champions but also held a friendly game with Kenya’s national team in build up for the forthcoming 9th Woodball world cup sent for July in Malaysia.
“As far as the construction of a world class woodball arena is concerned, we are moving step by step. Because it is a big project, we saw it fit not to jump any essential stage. We had to consult at every level of key stakeholders. The project was referred to President Museveni who gave a directive for further progress. It is now in the hands of the Ministry of Finance to secure funds,”Kayongo said.
The Uganda Woodball Federation seeks to construct a $7.6million facility that will include administration offices, a clubhouse, woodball factory and a standard woodball course among others.
It will be funded by both the Ugandan and Chinese governments.
Kayongo said going forward, the federation is looking at local, regional, continental and world events with the World Cup in Malaysia as the apex of the woodball calendar.