Over the weekend, a member of the Fufa Referees Standing Committee boldly reached out to me about the unworkable conditions referees are subjected to. Whereas I wasn’t surprised to learn that referees have not been paid a single penny since the start of the season, the biggest shocker was the gagging imposed on them by referees’ body working closely with the Fufa executive. He even alleged that referees were recently given an order to ensure that one team survives relegation at all costs.
I crosschecked this information with a top Fufa executive who undeniably admitted delay in payment of referees’ arrears although he refused to lay the blame on Fufa. To him, it doesn’t matter when referees are paid as long as they finally get their due.
For starters, one would think Fufa is scampering for money to pay the referees yet in reality, the money was availed by sponsors StarTimes at the start of the season.
For those who may not know, the $7.24m (Shs 26.6bn) StarTimes deal has a clause that gives referees 10 per cent. That’s roughly Shs 266m per season.
Yet when it comes to payment, referees receive a paltry Shs 150,000 for every match officiated regardless of any other expense they incur.
Now, consider a referee that has to travel to Arua for an Onduparaka game; transport fare, accommodation and feeding can easily consume the whole Shs 150,000! In spite of this, players and fans will expect the same referee to be impartial.
In Zambia where I have business interests, top-flight referees there earn $250 per game (about Shs 920,000) and that is reflected in the quality of their league.
Since time immemorial, the reason judges are always the first to be paid is to leave little room for temptation to be biased.
And in this era of rife match-fixing where many league games are decided on controversial thin margins, one cannot rule out a referee taking a bribe to fix a match, especially when he is frustrated without pay.
Just recently, Fufa banned referee Emmanuel Kiweewa for five years for soliciting for Shs 1m to fix a University Football League (UFL) game. Juxtapose that figure with the Shs 40m that was offered to Onduparaka officials to throw away a match and you will realise many of the results we see in the league don’t reflect the actual play.
And this has a trickle-down effect on the quality of players produced in the Uganda Premier League (UPL).
And it is not that Fufa doesn’t know this; but instead of improving the welfare of referees, it instead sought a clandestine way of enslaving them but co-opting the referees’ boss, Ronnie Kalema, on the Fufa executive. Not only is this a conflict of interest but it denies referees a voice of discontent because one of them dines the high table. Given that decisions of the Fufa executive are a result of collective responsibility, Kalema can never come out to voice the concern of an ordinary referee because he is part of the oppressors of referees.
Shamirah Nabadda - A Ugandan Referee
I’m also reliably informed that several referees holding Fifa badges have become so demoralised that they’ve thrown away the rulebook to engage in other businesses, which is against the Fifa statute and code of ethics.
Yet amidst all this, someone in Fufa diverted their monies for personal gain hoping to enter a plea bargain when found out.
This is the perpetuation of the vicious cycle of corruption in Ugandan football.
