Netball Wrangles Season Two: ”We don’t know anybody right now, we have to start on a clean sheet” – Mwase to Stakeholders Who Question His Committee’s Mandate
By: Kayiira Jackson
A number of netball community members especially those who were not in good terms with the forced out UNF President, Hon. Babirye Kityo Sarah, typically fought her way out thinking that sanity will soon return in the game but it seems they were chasing wind.
Since April last year when Babirye was forced to step aside by the Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Janet Museveni, Netball has been in hibernation to date and now the stakeholders are raising up to question the mandate of the Normalization Committee that was put in place in November 2023 to put sanity in the game.
Before the Normalization Committee presser held on Monday at UOC office Lugogo, some of the stakeholders had a press conference at Old Kampala questioning the mandate of Moses Mwase and his committee who have proposed a new name and constitution.
In his address, the Normalization Committee chairperson, Moses Mwase revealed that the Uganda Netball Federation is no longer in the existence since their license was revoked by the government and they need to start afresh.
“We don’t know anybody right now, we have to start on a clean sheet” Mwase stated.
“We were appointed by world Netball in November last year and our terms of reference were very clear, it was for us to ensure that we have a new constitution, why we talk about the new constitution, it’s because there is no Federation as we speak. The moment, the government pulled the license of Uganda Netball Federation, it became unlawful for anybody to continue engaging in the name of UNF. Why we’re processing a new name, once the license was pulled, the law required that now you can’t organize anything under that brand that’s why we have provided a new name.”
Statements have been made by different stakeholders claiming that Mwase and his committee have no mandate to run the affairs of the game including the league but he had this to answer.
“We preferred to work and then show you what we have done but we have also noticed a bit of negative and hostile media in the past few days, some appears to undermine the works of Normalization Committee including the number of people that have wanted to direct how we do our work.” Unhappy Mwase stated.
Originally the NC tenure was supposed to end in May but the dates kept on changing but Mwase stated that 31st December 2024 will not find them in the office.
“We don’t want to go past this year before we wrap up our work, basically after the elections, I think what will be left will be to provide transitional support to the new executive.
The elections I think will take place around the 26th of October but it’s subject to change because we’re again in consultation with world Netball. ” He asserted.
The stakeholders were also not happy with the change of the name from Uganda Netball Federation to Netball Uganda.
“Netball Uganda is not yet in existence, it’s just a proposal because you can’t have a constitution without a name, what we will put in existence is when the members adopt the constitution.
Mwase also stated that Netball community is one of the communities hard to deal with.
“…We called meetings here not once, not twice, many times but you see Netball is a community of suspicion that’s what we have learnt, people are suspicious of their shadows my friend.”
Normalization Committee has called for a general assembly on Saturday, 21, September at Lugogo indoor arena to discuss and pass the new constitution that will guide the elections.
This assembly only attracts the provisional members registered with NC and paid up.
According to Mwase, at least 75 members are to attend the meeting.
He has also asserted that the league will soon be held and they are in the final stages.