Michael Nuwagaba who is the Chairman of the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) says that the local cricket governing body is not in crisis despite recent reports depicting so. He addressed the media on Wednesday at Uganda Olympic Committee premises in Kampala.
The recent reports indicated that Nuwagaba had resigned from his role while Allan Mugume who is the association’s CEO had also left his role. The contract of the men’s team (Cricket Cranes) coach Laurence Mahatlane was also reportedly not renewed ending the South African’s three-year stint with the side.
“Yes, I had put in a request to resign mainly for career reasons, however you know that UCA are very keen in being compliant to all the rules that govern us. So on advice from the government, currently only the Annual General Meeting (AGM) can approve my resignation so that means in the interim I had to have my request turned down so I am still the chairman of Uganda Cricket Association until the next AGM. If I still think I should stand down then I can put a request to the AGM but for now I am still the chairman until the end of my term,” Nuwagaba told media.
Nuwagaba says that what’s happening at Uganda Cricket is normal disruption and a sign of growth which always comes with new challenges.
“There’s no crisis in UCA, what’s happening is as you keep punching higher, some posts need to change, as ambitions change, disruptions come but these are normal disruptions anywhere. We are still in charge, we will get through,” Nuwagaba noted adding that they seek to be a model sports governing body.
At the press conference, UCA unveiled Jackson Ogwang, 33 as the interim coach for the men’s team replacing Mahatlane. The former has been an assistant to the latter for the past three years. Lawrence Sematimba was confirmed as the women’s team coach.
“The men’s coach did good things for us as he moved us from 33rd ranking to the current 23rd but the thinking is, to get higher we need to shift some gears so as a board we took a decision not to renew his contract and in the interim we will be using our local content to take us through the upcoming events. Jackson Ogwang who has been under Mahatlane’s watch for three years will be in charge of the team,” Nuwagaba said.
Ogwang’s immediate task is to lead the Cricket Cranes to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers scheduled to take place between 20th November and 1st December in Namibia and later the Africa Cup T20 in December in South Africa with Uganda seeking to defend the title.
“We have a training camp coming up in Jinja and later hold pre-tournament preparations in Zimbabwe. The boys are in good shape, the mood in camp is good and we are ready to represent Uganda,” a confident Ogwang said adding that he’s grateful for the opportunity to lead the team and he’ll give his best.
For the women’s team, they are set to host the World Cup qualifiers in December but before then they’ll also host a pre-tournament event.
Meanwhile, Allan Mugume remains as CEO until the end of the year.
