FUFA (Federation of Uganda Football Associations) President Eng. Moses Magogo alongside Deputy CEO – Football, Decolas Kiiza together with State Minister of Sports Hon. Hamson Obua met Prime Minister of Uganda Ruhakana Rugunda on Wednesday in Kampala to discuss way forward on how football activities and sports in general can be reinstated.
FUFA Communications Director, Ahmed Hussein confirmed to this reporter that the meeting between the parties in question was centered around sports (as a whole) and football (in particular) SOPs consideration to reinstate play.
“Discussions hinged on government looking into the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) submitted by FUFA,” Ahmed said as the federation looks forward to the resumption of football across the country.
“Immediate emphasis are on the U17 Girls team going to camp for the matches against Cameroon in late October and early November. Then FUFA Big League playoffs and Regional Playoffs,” Ahmed added.
Any time soon, the Sports Minister is reportedly meant to meet the Ministry of Health officials to discuss the SOPs and find a way forward to safely reinstate competitive play. This is believed to be the final lap in sports walk back to life.
Sports is one of the sectors that is still shut down ever since March 2020 when government through President Yoweri Museveni declared a partial lockdown as a Covid-19 preventive measure then.
However, other sectors including high-risk areas like public transport, malls, arcades and the like have been reinstated but the noose on crowd pulling sectors like sports events, schools, churches, cinema halls, bars and night clubs is still tight.
A few months ago, sports started a ‘long walk back to life’ when National Council of Sports (NCS) guided it’s 51 member federations /associations/unions on drafting SOPs to follow in the post-lockdown era.
NCS later submitted SOPs to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Ministry of Health (MoH) and the COVID-19 National Task Force in a bid to secure a green light to reinstate play. However, sports is still on a halt.
