Katamba, who on two occasions stopped Fuba from holding basketball games at the refurbished MTN Arena, Lugogo, last weekend reiterated he would quit if political powers insisted on using the facility.
The circus started three weeks ago when Sheila Mugisha, signed off as the MTN facility manager, wrote to NCS directing them to stop Fuba from accessing the venue over heavy backstops on the
hoops.
The letter claimed they would damage the floor, only re-done after the first one fixed in 2010 had an undulating floor way before the ball even bounced. MTN paid for its renovation.
A lengthy NCS meeting on Sunday ended with the ongoing Fiba Africa Zone V Club Championships being allowed in, two years after basketball was thrown out.
“For me it was a matter of principle,” said Anthony Katamba. He met the sports minister Charles Bakkabulindi on Monday and tendered his resignation on Tuesday.
“It makes no difference. I have appointed John Onyik as acting chairman,” Bakkabulindi when Kawowo Sports contacted him.
Onyik is from the set-up as he has been an NCS board member. Katamba, also the MTN legal and corporate affairs manager, distanced his employers from the whole saga.
“And it’s been portrayed as MTN being anti sports in this whole thing and that it is the one that stopped basketball from being played at the Arena.
“No. It was me who did it as chairman of NCS primarily to protect the facility. It was simple for Fuba to wait for the right equipment,” a candid Katamba added.
The long-awaited hoops, the source of all this impasse, are expected here in the fortnight.
“I hope nothing really happens to the facility but if it does happen, they will close it down for a year or so and I don’t know if government comes up with Shs500m to renovate it,” Katamba warned.