In what is a case of history repeating itself, The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has officially withdrawn the mandate to run the Uganda Premier League from clubs.
This was revealed in a statement on the FA’s official website which stated the decision was reached at after an Emergency Committee meeting on February 23 and put into action on April 15, 2015.
“The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) 7th Executive Committee meeting of 15th April 2015 ratified the decision made by the FUFA Emergency Committee on 23rd February, 2015 to withdraw the mandate of the FUFA Super League (FSL) to run the Uganda Premier League and to maintain the status quo until the end of the current season,” read the statement in parts.
The Federation further confirmed that the league Secretariat headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bernard Bainamani will now report direct to the FUFA CEO Edgar Watson and not to the FSL as the case was before.
“The Azam Uganda Premier League Secretariat headed by CEO Bainamani Bernard Bampaire will report directly to the FUFA Chief Executive Officer.”
The FA didn’t state the exact reasons for the withdraw of the mandate but some club officials who are not happy with the move insist it’s all about money.
“Now that FUFA knows there is sponsorship, it wants to manage all the finances from the deal since all will be going through the FA not clubs as the case has been,” a club official who preferred anonymity stated.
History Repeats Itself
After the 2011/12 campaign, FUFA under the leadership of Lawrence Mulindwa ordered that the mandate to run the league be withdrawn from clubs who were under the Uganda Super League ltd (USLL).
The move gave birth to the FSL on paper but it was truly FUFA managing all league affairs. Besides, it also resulted into two parallel topflight leagues with one managed by USL and the other by FUFA.
Sanity only returned during the 2013/14 season when USLL gave up.
