The National Council of Sports General Secretary, Patrick Bernard Ogwel, has been given a seven-day deadline by the Deputy Inspector General of Government Patricia Okiria Achan to pay the Uganda Netball Federation Shs100 million.
Ogwel and UNF President Sarah Babirye Kityo have been at odds for the past few months after Kityo claimed Ogwel demanded bribes every time she disbursed money to support the National netball team and other initiatives.
Speaking to reporters at the Uganda Netball Federation headquarters in February, Kityo claimed that the NCS boss had been requesting their federation for kickbacks on a regular basis whenever money is given to the She Cranes.
She referenced their travel to South Africa for the Male Netball Championship in 2021, where Ogwel reportedly sought 40 million of the 100 million allotted for the event.
Kityo claims that the vice president, Richard Muhumuza, and general secretary, Amina Mande, disregarded the federation’s top leadership’s decision to forgo paying the bribe and instead sent Dr Ogwel 30 million Shillings that were intended for the players’ allowances.
On the grounds that they failed to account for funding they got in the prior fiscal year, Kityo accused Ogwel of neglecting to deliver any funding to the Netball Federation during this fiscal year.
The team lost out on numerous international competitions, including the World Cup qualifying rounds, as a result.
As a result of the Netball Federation’s failure to account for the 425 million Shillings it received for the African Pent Series and the African Netball Championship in the fiscal year 2021/22, Dr Ogwel withheld additional funds, as he also stated to journalists.
Achan discovered that Ogwel received 29.7 million shillings for the Namibia tournament, which was not spent or accounted for, and 70.5 million shillings, which was the difference between the inflated 27 air tickets obtained for the Namibia tournament, in a letter dated April 14 and addressed to the National Council of Sports Chairman.
According to a portion of the letter, “Dr. Ogwel Bernard Patrick, General Secretary, National Council of Sports should refund a total of UGX 100,276,001 (composed of UGX 29,719,800 paid to him for the Namibia tournament which was never spent/accounted for and UGX 70,556,211 the difference on the inflated 27 air tickets procured for the Namibia tournaments) to the Government Asset Recovery Account No. 003030088000007 held in Bank of Uganda.”
Additionally, the IGG mandated that “Mr. Muhummuza, the former vice president for technical, and Hajjat Nambusi Kibedi, the former treasurer, should jointly account for 30 million shillings that were not given to male players.”