National Council of Sports boss ordered to refund Shs 100m netball kickback 

National Council of Sports (NCS) general secretary, Patrick Ogwel has been ordered to pay Shs 100 million to the Uganda Netball Federation (UNF) within seven days. 

Ogwel and UNF president Sarah Babirye Kityo have been at loggerheads for the past months after Kityo accused Ogwel of asking for bribes whenever disbursing funds to facilitate the national netball team, She Cranes among other federation activities.

Addressing journalists at UNF head offices in February, Kityo said the NCS boss has been repeatedly asking for kickbacks from their federation whenever funds are allocated to the She Cranes. 

She cited their trip to South Africa in 2021 for the Male Netball Championship where Ogwel reportedly demanded Shs 40 million out of the Shs 100 million allocated.

According to Kityo, although the federation’s top leadership agreed not to pay the kickback, UNF vice president, Richard Muhumuza, and general secretary, Amina Mande defied the resolution and paid Ogwel Shs 30 million which was meant for the players’ allowances. 

Now in an April 14 letter, the deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG) Patricia Okiria Achan said that investigations have found that Ogwel received Shs 29.7 million for the Namibia tournament which was not spent nor accounted for, and Shs 70.5 million which was the difference between the inflated 27 air tickets procured for Namibia tournament.

Kityo accused Ogwel of failing to provide any funding to the federation this financial year on grounds that they failed to account for funds they received in the previous financial year. This cost the team multiple international events, including participating in the World Cup qualifiers. 

However, Ogwel also told journalists that UNF failed to account for the Shs 425 million they received in the financial year 2021/22 for the Africa Pent Series (which the She Cranes won) and the African Netball Championship, which prompted him to withhold additional funding.  

“Dr Ogwel Bernard Patrick, general secretary, National Council of Sports should refund a total of UGX 100,276,001 (comprised in UGX 29,719,800 paid to him for the Namibia tournament which was never spent/accounted for and UGX 70,556,211 the difference on the inflated 27 air tickets procured for the Namibia tournaments) to the Government Asset Recovery, account no. 003030088000007 held in Bank of Uganda,” reads part of the letter.

The IGG further ordered that Muhummuza, the then vice president technical and Hajjat Nambusi Kibedi, the then treasurer collectively account for Shs 30 million which was never paid to the male players.