National Sports Bill Tabled for First Reading

Bugiri Municipality MP, Hon. Asuman Basalirwa, has tabled the National Sports Bill, 2021 for its first reading.

The Private Member’s Bill was tabled on behalf of Hon. Moses Magogo (NRM, Budiope East County) during plenary sitting on Wednesday, 09 November 2022.

The bill seeks to repeal the National Council of Sports Act. Cap 48. The object of the bill is to consolidate and modernize the law relating to the incorporation and registration of national sports organisations and community sports clubs.

Further to that, the bill intends to provide for the management, promotion, development and regulation of professional, amateur and recreational sports in Uganda and to streamline the recreation, registration and management of national sports organisations and community sports.

Speaker Anita Among referred the bill to the Committee on Education and Sports.

Parliament deferred the first reading of the bill on 09 March 2022, with the government arguing that there is a need for further consultations on the financial implication.

Magogo was scheduled to table the bill, but the then Government Chief Whip, Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, said that the bill had several connotations of financial implications which require co-sponsorship.

Hon. Moses Magogo, also President of the Federation of the Uganda Football Association, is the sponsor of the Private Member’s Bill

Attempts by the Minister of State for Sports, Hon. Peter Ogwang, to convince the House during the sitting of Wednesday, 09 November 2022 to heed the earlier position on harmonisation of the bill was futile.

AUDIO: Hon. Peter Ogwang

“Procedure requires that before a bill is tabled, it has to go through Cabinet. Cabinet will approve the bill on Monday and it will be tabled. I request the House to permit that the consolidated bill to be tabled after Cabinet approval,” Ogwang said.

Among, however, advised the government to take over the bill at the committee stage, if they feel the proposed law is not sufficient enough, citing a similar scenario in which the government took over the Succession (Amendment) Bill, 2021 at the committee stage.

“We are bringing the bill in good faith, we are helping you to work. We cannot have a Bill laid and it takes eight months. Let us not deprive a private member of executing his constitutional mandate,” she said.

The Speaker added that Parliament has a legislative agenda of 62 bills and yet not even a quarter of the bills have been handled.