By: Ronald Kintu
The Federation of Uganda Basketball Association went to polls on Saturday and settled with old browns to sweep their house for the next four years.
Re-elected President Nasser Sserunjogi who defeated challenger Gordon Gumisiriza by 39 to 16 votes is to lead a team of seven until 2026.
With yesterday’s results from the Annual General Meeting held at Hotel Africana cast in stone, here are a few things Sserunjogi and the team should focus on more from a devotee’s point of view to elevate the game.
First on the list is getting a credible sponsor for the National League that is willing to invest real money. The League is a big brand now and on TV!
Tusker Lite have money, but whoever negotiated with them, clearly didn’t negotiate hard enough, because what do they really give us?
There’s no sensible cash for how good our NBL product is. And the President has to take a lead on this because a winner can’t take home peanuts after investing millions.
Next on the wish list is National Teams; yes we know they’re the responsibility of the government and we shouldn’t let them dodge their duty.
But, what happens if the government doesn’t ever show up reliably? Our national teams have now also proved that they’re a product good enough for there to be sponsorship from a corporate body to support whatever comes from government when it does.
The National Team Committee can’t do everything, the Presidency (executive) must step up and help in securing a sponsor that guarantees the teams to prepare as best as they possibly can.
The third appeal is a sounding federation secretariat. FUBA needs to have a better secretariat.
That means, a good office space, a good staff core that’s well facilitated, paid well and fully supervised in order to improve the standard of administration of the game.
Currently, you have staff that have 5 plus months arrears, how do you expect them to do anything to any standard?
That shack of an office at Lugogo Indoor Arena that NCS uses to blackmail FUBA is no longer in our best interests to stay there. We have to find a way to move and get better.
The final ask is to emphasize the marketing of the game with the league at the forefront.
Namuwongo Blazers last year basically showed us what a team can do by itself to market themselves as a product.
They literally sold out the finals by themselves. If the Blazers can sell that big a deal, why would FUBA that has a much bigger product claim they don’t have the ability to sell the rest of the league?
Lastly, push numbers into that ka Arena every Friday night for 2 months and see if sponsors won’t come begging!!!
New FUBA Executive:
President: Nasser Sserunjogi
VP Administration: Hudson Ssegamwenge
VP Technical: Baker Kyambadde
VP Finance: Aggrey Mbonye
VP Marketing, Media & Publicity: Arnold Katabi
Commissioner For Women: Rachel Atuhairwe
Commissioner for Youth: Patricia Ayebare
Courtesy Photos
