The Deputy Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has lashed out at the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) for failing to manage the issues of Uganda Cranes players’ allowances better.
He said that FUFA should resort to dialogue with the players in Egypt instead of dishing out press statements.
“Please just sit together with the players and find a common ground to sort this issue. We have come so far for a small issue of bonuses to crash their hopes and dreams and that of fellow country men and women. Please put your house in order,” Oulanyah said on his official twitter handle in response to a statement issued by FUFA after players declined to train ahead of the Friday clash with Senegal over allowances.
In their statement, FUFA admitted that the Cranes did not undergo training on 2nd July 2019, after players opted not to despite a training programme released by the technical team with complaints about emoluments as their cause of action.
“FUFA wishes to affirm that matters of the rights and obligations of the members of the Uganda Cranes at the AFCON 2019 inclusive of the allowances and bonuses of the team were discussed and agreed upon by the team and were put into a document called the Code of Conduct. Every member of the team signed the Code of Conduct before being allowed into the camp,” FUFA statement read in part.
The Federation further revealed that as of 2nd July 2019, each player has received up to 14,600 USD approximately Shs55M with more daily allowances and winning bonuses awaiting to be earned and paid on time.
The Federation called on players to respect the signed Code of Conduct and assured the country that the emoluments fiasco ‘will be resolved’ like many others before.
“According to FUFA, there is currently nothing owing to the players as per the signed Code of Conduct and more than 2 Billion UGX has been paid to this item alone. This matter has been explained to the players and instead they have opted to renegotiate the terms of the Code of Conduct after qualifying to the round of 16 leading to the decision not to undergo training,” reads in part FUFA’s statement.
According to the breakdown, FUFA claims to have paid USD420 for the Camp in Uganda for 14 days,, USD 5,100 for the Foreign Camp 34 days ending 30th June 2019, USD 4,000 for the Winning Bonus of the DR Congo match, 2,000 USD for the Draw against Zimbabwe and that FUFA has also paid extra USD2,780 to each player for camp morale and USD300 for the International friendly match against Ivory Coast.
As much as Oulanyah struck the diplomatic tone, Vision Group Chief Executive Officer, Robert Kabushenga called on FUFA to pay the players’ emoluments or else moblise Ugandans against wearing Cranes jerseys in solidarity with players.
Kabushenga asked to have citizenship of all FUFA officials revoked if they failed to pay players; “Our demand is simple. Pay Uganda cranes allowances! Let us speak out. Let the whole world know we stand with Uganda Cranes on their pay. If FUFA ignores this, no wearing jersey on Friday! And cancel their citizenship.”
This isn’t the first time FUFA is being dragged in bad light due to emoluments, with former Uganda Cranes coach Milutin Sredojević, having quit his job, cutting short his three year contract over failure by FUFA to clear his salary arrears amounting to Sh230m.
