It’s exactly two months since KCCA FC ordered their assistant manager Sam Ssimbwa to step aside following an audio recording in which a voice resembling his circulated in the media.
The recording was about how he is so passionate about the club winning football matches that he goes as far as his pocket to bribe match officials in order to ensure his picks victories.
An investigation committee was set up then but the matter was later referred to FUFA Ethics and Integrity Committee days later although a report on the matter is yet out.
KCCA chairman Julius Kabugo recalls the moment and in an interview with Daily Monitor describes the decision as hard but one they are happy with.
“We were buried in a situation where we had to take a decision. It was very hard decision but one we are happy we took,” he stated. “That moment was a test of our leadership” he adds.
Kabugo recollects that it took the executive over four hours to find a way forward on the matter and he is glad a decision was reached.
We sat as a club for close to four hours trying to come through with a decision. And I’m glad we came out with that decision, which I believe was the best.
Although sections of the media believe that Ssimbwa was sacked indirectly, the chairman denies saying it was only a suspension to allow investigations take place and also revealed that the well-travelled Coach still earns his pay although halfway.
We didn’t sack Sam; we only provided room for investigations because we need to know what really happened. It comes off as difficult when the accused says am innocent and someone else says that’s your voice, so it’s important there is a process that satisfies all interested parties. All we want is integrity to prevail, and we have a mandate to deliver quality football the way it should be delivered not in other ways.”
Known for being a principled man, Kabugo stated that as a professional club, they have to behave to behave in a respectable manner acceptable to everyone in the society.
We have a responsibility to our fans and to society. But we are also a professional club and thus have to behave in a manner that is acceptable to all.
Since his suspension from all football related activities at the club, KCCA has lost one of five competitive games winning the rest and are in the last 16 of the Uganda Cup and have also widened the gap at the top of the league table to six points but Kabugo still feels there is a void in the technical team and urges the authorities to come up with a decision as soon as possible after surpassing the January 31 deadline.
We are all uncomfortable with the delay, because we have a vacuum. Someone was doing a lot of work for the club but was suspended.”
It remains to be seen how this will unfold at the end but the ball is in the courts of the FUFA Ethics and integrity committee at the moment.
