Government reassures She Cranes on World Cup funding

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The national netball team will receive money for the World Cup Netball championship soon, according to the State Minister for Planning, David Bahati. The World Cup Netball championship is scheduled to take place between July 12th and 21st in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Uganda is pooled alongside Scotland, Samoa and hosts England in Group D. Although the games are about two weeks away, the national netball team is yet to receive money from government.

The State Minister for Planning, David Bahati, says the Finance and Education Ministries are working round the clock to ensure that funds are released to enable the team travel and participate in the international event.

He was responding to the concern of Workers’ Representative, Margaret Rwabushaija that the She Cranes don’t have funds for their air tickets to the World Cup.

Rwabushaija said although the team is in residential training there is uncertainty on whether or not it will participate in the World Cup.

The  Opposition Chief Whip, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda and Kasese Woman MP, Winfred Kiiza questioned government’s commitment in funding the sports sub-sector.

The sub sector has been allocated Shillings 26 billion in the 2019/2020 financial year through the National Council of Sports up from Shillings 17.5 billion in the 2018/2019 financial year.

Kiiza is also concerned that whenever the She Cranes have an international tournament, they have to first beg Parliament to secure funds. In the 2015 Netball World Cup held in Australia, the She Cranes received Shillings 540 million out of the Shillings 1.8 billion it had requested from government.

The team lacked bottled water and needed bailout for their air tickets to return home as a result of the shortfall. Despite the financial squeeze, Uganda emerged 8th and has since improved to the seventh position.

The President of the Uganda Netball Federation, Susan Anek recently told Uganda Radio Network-URN that the national team has not secured funds for air tickets.

A delegation of 25 officials including the national team are expected to travel to Liverpool for the event. Anek said that the team requires at least Shillings 1.2 billion to cater for air tickets and feeding during the games.

The team is expected to travel next Friday, three days before the event to prepare adequately for its first game against England, which is ranked second in the World.

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