There was mockery and public outrage in mid-November as FUBA, the men’s basketball governing body came out and declared that a lack of funding had resulted into a forced withdrawal from the prestigious basketball World Cup qualifiers to held in Angola.

Arnold Katabi, who is the Vice President in charge of Media and Publishing at the Federation of Uganda’s Basketball Association said that there were no funds to help the team attend the first window of the qualifiers in Angola.

The issue has now been resolved and the team is set, but it is jarring recurrence of an all-too-comon problem in our beloved country.

Just a month ago, the same basketball team endured drama in Rwanda during the Afrobasket Championship where they were detained at their hotel over unpaid bills and had to to be bailed out at the last second by the government.

While preparing for the AfroBasket, the team had also planned to have a two week training camp in Egypt prior to the AfroBasket but this was not possible as the team had no funds.

The financial constraints date back to July, 2021, when the Silverbacks automatically qualified for Afrobasket 2021 after beating hosts Morocco in Rabat 77-65.

The team which had travelled to Morocco on borrowed money had hoped the NCS would reimburse the money upon return to clear the debts.

FUBA says when they informed NCS about the need for financial support for the finals and reimbursement of the Morocco expenses, they were informed that there was no money.

Not just basketball

Back in February this year, Sports federations under their newly formed Union of Uganda Sports Federations and Associations- UUSFA have complained about the unfair distribution of funds among sports federations in the country.

The issue came up during a meeting between the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and the leadership of Uganda Sports Federations and Associations 

According to UUSFA, the country lacks a sports funding policy which leaves many sports federations in the dilemma of facilitating their activities while others are fully funded.

“Sports in Uganda is so underdeveloped and this is because of the absence of a sports funding policy. It is very unfortunate that Ugandan sports funds are spent without the necessary enabling law/policy which would have guided us all on how and where to spend our sports funds allocated by parliament,” read a statement presented by Robert Jaggwe, the UUSFA secretary-general.

According to Jaggwe, the federations only get funds after intense and unprofessional lobbying.

almost 10 months later and there is no tangible change.

Uganda is still operating haphazardly, merely stumbling along, depending on hope and last minute hail-Marys.

But WHY?

When these athletes win, we are all proud of them. Governmnet officilas line up to shake thei =r hands and congratulate them, get a photo moment to show they were part of it.

But what happens before? What happens after? where are the government officials and national pride when our athletes need them to facilitate their trainings and international enagements?

where is the effort to nurture the next crop of Ugandan stars?

Or do we only want to enjoy the success without being part of the effort?

Are we okay with being forever mediocre?

These questions need answers.