Irate Ugandans on Wednesday bombarded social media to slam Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) for failing to pay the national football team that has since made wonders in Egypt.
The team has broken a record after qualifying to play the next round (group of 16) since 1978 and faces Senegal on Friday.
Whereas back home, Ugandans were still jubilating the success and vowing to support the boys as they take on the West African nation – Senegal, there emerged a huge setback as reports suggested that Cranes Players had refused to attend training ahead of the major clash.
Whereas it began as a rumor, it was later confirmed as true by journalists who are currently in Egypt covering the AFCON tournament.
Previously all cliques of Ugandans (the informed and uninformed) took to social media to convict FUFA President Moses Magogo as having diddled the players’ money promised to them earlier, should they qualify for a next a stage in the tournament.
Magogo’s critics utilized the opportunity to portray him as as potential ‘cheat’ and an enemy of Ugandan football whose greed and selfish interest would shatter the team’s spirit in the fight for the trophy.
The under fire Magogo was a topic on all media platforms however much he came up to to defend his name and clarify that Uganda Cranes players had received part of payment promised by the Federation and that the strike has been instigated by a few notorious greedy players.
In an investigation conducted by this website, we have learned that individuals in Kampala were at the center of fueling the strike.
How a Top Journalist Engineered the Strike
A high-ranking journalist (names withheld) who is at the helm of one of the State owned media outlets has been cited at the center of this planned strike to purposely discredit FUFA leadership since he was also interested in Magogo’s chair, reveals an authority in the federation.
This top official who however, requested to be protected further told this news site how the strike was planned.
“Some coaches and 5 players instigated the so called strike yet all players are fully paid as at 30th June,” he narrated.
Adding that the purpose was to blackmail President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to have the pending $10000 (pledge) paid there and then yet the code of conduct was clear when they would get it.
In fact, his statement can be supported by Presidential Press Secretary, Mr. Don Wanyama’s Twitter post in which he criticized a few selfish individuals in Crane’s camp as greedy and unpatriotic for trying to mislead the boys with a “funny strike.”
“From what I gather, if the players refuse to train today (and by the way senior players like Onyango are against the strike), FUFA president Moses Magogo will have no option but write to CAF to withdraw Uganda from AFCON. Let greed not kill the game,” Mr. Wanyama tweeted.
Our source at the Federation adds that on learning the strike, two journalists mobilized a top official in State House who immediately reached out to President Museveni to pay the pending $10000.
Whereas the payment was in the pipeline, Museveni as shrewd as he in known, rang FUFA’s Magogo who appealed to the President to decline payment.
“He told him that if the players don’t return to training this evening, FUFA would pay the fines to CAF and quit the tournament,” a source added.
Magogo authoritatively issued a stern warning to the players to either return to training or ship out.
These two journalists, a source said are misusing the players to embarrass the federation seeing they have succeeded of late.
“They have ended up embarrassing Uganda.”
It should be noted that one of the journalists has an exe to grind because he wanted to stand for president of FUFA sometime back be he couldn’t qualify.
Background of the Strike
In the wake of Fufa outing a statement insisting they have paid players their outstanding bonuses, it is emerging that it is the $10,000 (Shs37m) earlier promised by the federation for qualification to the 2019 Nations Cup that the Cranes stars are demanding.
The players argue that the Shs2b given by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for the team to share after qualification is different from the one earlier one promised by Fufa.
But, according to Uganda Radio Network (URN), a Fufa sources say otherwise. “It is true Fufa promised them US$10,000 each for qualification. But we engaged the government through President Museveni and money was released which we used to pay them,” said a Fufa official.
This comes ahead of a crucial game against Africa’s best ranked team Senegal on July 5th in the round of 16.
The disturbing news comes on the heels of the Cranes failing to show up for training at the Arab Contractors Stadium on Tuesday evening.
“Yes we decided as a group to keep out of training to send a big message across so that the leaders can pay us,” one of the senior players who did not want his name revealed told URN on Tuesday night.
According to the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) communications manager, Ahmed Hussein, the members of the contingent have all been paid what they are meant to get till end of June.
Fufa has made it clear that each player has so far been paid a total of US$14,600 (Shs54 million) by July 2nd. The team reportedly received US$4000 (Shs14.8 million) for their win against DR Congo and US$2000 (Shs7.4 million) for the draw against Zimbabwe. The players also received US$5100 (Shs18.9 million) each for 34 days of camping till June 30th at a rate of US$150 (Shs556,000) per day, US$420 (Shs1.5 million) for the 14 days of camping in Uganda, together with US$300 (Shs1.1 million) for the international friendly against Ivory Coast played in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, another player has told URN on Wednesday morning that they have been asked to return to training and reminded of the code of conduct document that each of them signed. It remains to be seen if the players will accept to training later on Wednesday evening or continue with the sit-down strike.
At the on-going tournament three teams Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana all have a winning bonus of US$10,000 (Shs37 million) per game.
Besides Uganda and Senegal, the other teams that have made it to the round of 16 include Egypt, South Africa, Madagascar, DR Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Guinea, Morocco, Benin, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Tunisia.
The Uganda Cranes are the second team together with Zimbabwe to go on a sit-down strike and miss training over alleged unpaid allowances at the on-going 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
The Nigerian team players also boycotted one of the mandatory press conferences over unpaid winning bonuses.
(Background story by Daily Monitor)
