Eng Moses Magogo has Monday been declared unopposed for the position of the President of Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA).
The FUFA Electoral Committee Chairman, Mathius Bwire, said that of the three individuals; Allan Ssewanyana, Mujib Kasule and Moses Magogo who picked nomination papers, only Magogo managed to fill and returned the forms.
“We are here to declare that the only candidate who returned back the nomination forms, was Moses Magogo and a list of his Executive members was also sent,” Bwire says.
“By the powers entrusted to the FUFA Electoral Committee, we hereby declare Mr Moses Magogo Hashim and his listed Executive members as duly nominated with all requirements provided as per the FUFA Electoral Code and FUFA Statute,” he adds.
Justus Mugisha and Darius Mugoye are part of his Executive Members as first and second Vice President respectively.
Allan Ssewanyana was given a five day extension to submit his papers for the race on request, still failed to meet all the requirements but instead asked in writing to be nominated without meeting all the prerequisites, according to Bwire.
Today’s declaration means that Magogo who has occupied the position since 2013 will be presented as a sole candidate to the 97th FUFA Ordinary General Assembly sitting in Mbale on August 21 after which he takes over as FUFA President for the third four year term.
Magogo took over football administration at the time when qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) had nearly become an abandoned dream. He promised that his target was to qualify for AFCON in 2019 but this came earlier than expected in 2017.
In 2013 when Magogo took over as FUFA President, there were only 8 permanent employees of FUFA all without a clearly defined job description. He has since grown the FUFA secretariat to more than 60 permanent employees divided in different departments including communication, refereeing, marketing, legal among others.
It should also remembered that then, FUFA was run on only shs 4billion but now operates on a budget of shs 40 billion courtesy of marketing and organisational interventions employed as well as product improvement that continue attracting sponsors.
The national teams have consistently grown in both numbers and organisation over a time. The country had one national men’s football team and one of women playing once in a while but with no clear structure that brings in the players.
As of now, there are nine national teams which participate in all national, continental and international competitions. Uganda’s national beach football team last month finished fourth at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) beach soccer finals in Senegal.