Ministers tasked to probe retirement of Uganda cranes players

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  State Minister for Higher Education John Chrysostom Muyingo has said that the government will soon investigate the reasons driving the mass retirement of Ugandan football stars from the National Team.

Three senior players including Goalkeeper and skipper Denis Masinde Onyango, midfielders Michael Azira and Hassan Wasswa Mawanda retired within a space of one-week driving speculation on the state of affairs in Uganda Cranes camp. The minister says that with the growing fear that more players are likely to follow suit, the government has taken a keen interest in the matter. 

Muyingo was on Thursday appearing before the Parliamentary Committee of Education alongside the Minister of State for Sports, Denis Hamson Obua to discuss the Ministerial policy statement of the sector for the next financial year.  During the meeting, Busia Municipality MP Geoffrey Macho and Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu tasked the Ministry to explain the fate of Ugandan football in the wake of the resignations.

In response, Obua told the MPs that retirement is normal, adding that there is a time for everything. But committee members said that instead of looking at the resignations as something normal, the Minister-in-charge of sports should not be saying players establish the problem that is pushing players out of the national team. 

Jonam County MP Emmanuel Ongiertho Jor tasked the Sports Ministry to take interest in the management of football in the country, adding that the resignations and early retirements could also be related to bad management. 

Obua, however, told the committee that the Ministry is indeed interested in understanding what is going on and that some of the players had confided in him that they wanted to retire. He added that the resignations are actually linked to the current campaigns for the Presidency of Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA). 

However, the Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo assured the committee that they will thoroughly investigate football in Uganda and the resignations of the members. 

Meanwhile, Obua also disclosed that the Education Minister and First Lady Janet Museveni will honour the retired Uganda Cranes goalkeeper Onyango for his outstanding performance in Ugandan football. MPs also said Parliament would pay tribute to the goalkeeper.

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