West Nile province defends FUFA over attack on officials on allegations of cheating

By Godwin Abedican

Arua City

Following an uproar on social media about how the distribution and allocations of the Monies realized from the gate collections and ticket sales for the first leg of the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) Drum tournament between West Nile province and Lango province played at the AbaBet green light stadium Onduparaka in Arua city, on Saturday 7the January 2023, officials from West Nile region have come out to clear the air in order to restore sanity in the matter. According to the information, some officials of FUFA were allegedly attacked at Hill top hotel Arua to explain why most of the monies collected goes to the federation.
However officials attributed this to lack of information to the public over how the moneys collected needed to be allocated including the shares the federation is supposed to receive.

Clarifying on the above, TOKO BADRU the media officer of West Nile region says the public was right to raise the questions because it’s their money. “We will talk about lack of knowledge but the people have the entitlement, it’s their right, they wanted to know the truth and they were standing for us. All those people who were making noise were standing for us. They felt West Nile was cheated and even personally I felt that West Nile was cheated because this information needed to be circulated a week early” Toko said.
In phase one and two of the tournament the provinces were entitled to 70 percent of the collections and meet any deficit costs that would arise while in the third phase FUFA meets the deficit costs that arise which is the finals in the finals the pro
In phase one and two of the tournament the regional Associations were entitled to 20 percent while the 10 percent remaining of the sharable incomes went to the hosting District Football Associations (DFAs).
In phase 3 which is the finals FUFA is entitled to 50 percent of the sharable income, 15 percent for the FUFA Legacy ( the body that initiated the tournament, 10 percent goes to the first finalist, 10 percent to the second finalist, 10mpercent to the  hosting regional football association, 5 percent to the hosting DFA.
According to Toko, this is a learning point for the region much as the main target was the trophy. He however urged the public to seek information from credible sources “We have citizen journalists, we have people who use their social media, you buy data, you have a Wi-Fi, and you can post anything. It’s good that they have shared what is in their minds and it was a way of protecting west Nile resources they wanted to see the region happy, they did this because they didn’t know and as far as the FUFA drum is concerned I handle communication am the media person and before you probably go on to certify something on the media you should be able to consult me though I want to thank them. They have made no mistake. The same way they went on to put the negative is the same way they should put the positive” Toko appealed. He says due to the shortages realized after allocations, the provinces had to surrender their allocations to allow the facilitation of players. “That means that of these monies that were shared, we realized that the money that was at hand and was to be given to the players and those who worked was less. So the region decided not to pick their money, DFA decided not to pick their money and these monies were used to facilitate the team.” Toko narrated. The twenty players who made the match day squad, each one of them got four hundred thousand Ugandan shillings, the team manager got three hundred thousand Ugandan shillings, the team head coach got three hundred thousand Ugandan shillings, the other cater glories of workers in the team were paid two hundred fifty thousand shillings with the support staff getting one hundred thousand shillings each.
West nile province goes into the second leg of the double legged finals which takes place at Akibua Memorial stadiou in Lira on Sunday January 15th 2023 with a 2-0 advantage and the aggregate winner walks away with the trophy.
 
 Table showing the collections and expenses from the match between West Nile province and Lango province on Saturday 7th January 2022

s/No. Particulars 1 Ticketing   Issued Sold Rate (Shs) Amount(Shs) Ordinary 10,000 3,537 10,000 35,370,000 VIP 2,000 460 20,000 9,200,000 VVIP 100 3 50,000 150,000       Total 44,720,000 2 VAT (18%)       6,821,694 3 Operation expenses Ticket printing 2,420,000 security 6,100,000 Stadium hire 5,000,000 PAS 1,500,000 Other expenses 990,000 Ticket sellers 770,000 Sub Total 16,780,000 Total deductions 23,601,000   Net       21,119,000 4 Other Allocations FUFA Share (50%) 10,559,500 FUFA Legacy (15%) 3,167,850 Provinces (20%) 4,223,800 Regions 2,119,000 DFA 1,055,900