Kampala, May 23 (IANS) The Ugandan government has given an ultimatum to the country’s football governing body to register as a trust or risk being banned.
Sports Minister Charles Bakkabulindi said on Monday that the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) has up to the end of June to abide by the requirement, reports Xinhua.
He said all other sporting federations have complied apart from FUFA which argues that it risks being banned by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA), the world’s football governing body.
Bakkabulindi said all federations are supposed to be governed by Ugandan laws.
Justus Mugisha, FUFA’s first vice president, said that registering as a trustee is against the FIFA statue.
“In case we register as a trust it means the minister has the powers to throw out any leadership in place and that is against the FIFA set-up,” he said on Monday.
Mugisha said FUFA will maintain its stance and continue engaging government to understand its position.
“We want to conform but we cannot run away from what FIFA tells us,” said Mugisha.
He said the federation has already communicated to FIFA about the requirement by the government and is waiting for a response.