Musanjufu Benjamin Kavubu
A lot has been said on X, a lot has come to the DMs, but one thing is certain, very few read the entire article that has brought us this far, the article that appeared on 2bob sports written from a lived experience of a rugby player in the Central Uganda Rugby Championship. Even those making calls and ranting here and there as though they are slow in between their ears didn’t read the article. The Rugby Clubs that make up URU are not entitled to funding from the center, but there are systemic issues that need to be addressed.
At first glance, a simple three-column “Budget,” “Paid” and “Balance” table might seem to give a simple overview of where UGX 50 million was allocated by area. But from an accounting standpoint this kind of reporting is really useless whenever anybody wants to say, “How exactly was that money spent?” and at the moment that is the question with the money for regional sub unions that are purported to form the Uganda Rugby Union, the core of their make up is a story for another day. Or “Where’s the rest?”
By giving us only top line numbers, with no dates, no line item detail, no signature or audit stamp, and no evidence that funds have actually arrived in the alleged bank accounts that are held by CURA, WURA, EURA, and NURA basically URU has essentially given us an unsubstantiated assertion, not an accountable ledger. And worse still, since clubs themselves have received and verified none of these transfers, the table appears more like a menacing note left under the door than an open book of accounts. No definition of what “Paid” entails, is it mere travel allowances, or match-official allowances and medical aid too? What was withheld in expenses, if anything, for bank fees? If banks were even involved.
Were payments withheld retainer-style, or withheld due to disciplinary issues? Without footnotes or an audited trail in print, these numbers can be doctored, misread or outright denied with complete impunity. In reality it’s petty because URU is counting on the appearance of accountability rather than providing it. By not publishing detailed, club signed receipts or an independent review, they have damaged trust more than they ever establish it. Whoever has sang this song to them has got some kind of label in the past, but that incompetent lot that can’t out live time is never coherent.
When stakeholders are looking at “Balance” figures stagnating in an image sent via DMs, they have no idea if those shillings are even in escrow or a bank account, let alone that they will be applied to pitch upkeep, player welfare or youth development or transport support. Public trust in any sporting association is based on openness and audibility, there is no other way to this.
Fans, players and sponsors need to be able to track the money from allocation to actual payment, ideally through a publicly accessible portal that can be set up on a free WordPress subdomain or at least an independently audited report. Without that, a three-row table is no more than a smokescreen behind which questions linger rather than are answered, and genuine confidence in Uganda rugby’s administration remains out of reach.
When the 2025 Central Uganda Rugby Championship ended with Impis RFC defeating Rams 14–13 in the finals, it seemed that the story of grassroots rugby had been written: a shoestring budget, volunteer administrators within the CURA auspice and an esprit de corps that won out over logistical chaos. But almost before the confetti had fallen, we (2bob Sports that offered me a platform to tell my rugby story) (I) set a fire of words, because all was not well.
Phone calls have seeped in questioning the credibility of my printed numbers, and social media quotes questioned the UGX 2,362,500 that was allocated to CURA according to my knowledge as a player, raising suspicions against my article I contributed to this platform that is championing the true value of sports. URU, in turn, privately circulated their own “new” share of the UGX 50 million regional grant, six figures through WhatsApp and X DMs rather than an official statement, which added to the perception that, rather than explain, they were intent on burying the scandal. That’s how I perceive their moves, they are acting like the IDF before the ICJ.
Central-region was entitled to UGX 6,398,375, based on the document URU distributed covertly, but allegedly took home just UGX 3,479,155, an unused remainder of UGX 2,919,220, and they could not even afford a trophy for the finals. Western clubs performed better on paper, with UGX 9,639,875 budgeted, UGX 2,842,500 being paid out, and UGX 6,797,375 remaining. This is at the back foot of WURA trying to solicit for public support to see through the final on the 26th of April 2025.
Eastern clubs were allocated UGX 6,105,875, for which UGX 3,122,500 was paid out, and UGX 2,983,375 remained and they too were still doing public fundraising; Northern clubs received UGX 12,295,189 against a budget of UGX 27,855,875 with a balance of UGX 15,560,686 remaining. URU indicates generally that it has paid out UGX 21,739,344 and to have UGX 28,260,656 remaining in reserve. At first glance, the figures seemed to confirm that Central indeed had a meager disbursement.
Now Clubs in the CURA format are just, learning of URU’s data from a forwarded image on a WhatsApp and X, a method that evokes wartime messenger lines more than openness one would want in sporting governance. The whole world knows Hezbollah doesn’t talk to Israel but they always broker deals, that’s how URU is dealing when it comes to information. Even a closer look finds that URU’s indicated UGX 6.4 million budget for Central is small compared to known expenditure. With five clubs having five away legs, each costing UGX 1,500 for every kilometer and a home leg for each club, the actual travel cost should have been around UGX 8 million if we are being modest. URU’s reported balance of UGX 2.92 million, only after a six-leg tournament that CURA alleges cost UGX 2.36 million, does not make sense.
And while URU says it paid referees and match commissioners UGX 14,118,500 collectively, veteran referee Immanuel Olupot took to X that two referees and two match commissioners who worked on four games on a single day on six legs would at best have cost approximately UGX 1.9 million, if we assumed the top rate per session of UGX 80,000. How do we balance UGX 14 million then with what those officials experienced? They are questions which must be addressed because this story did not happen in air-conditioned conference halls but on pitches and training fields.
The CURA Chairman Charles Senteza logged onto the internet to compliment us on our “advocacy work,” but chided us to “at least get the right information” without even providing substitute figures. His laughter emojis went little way towards explaining where the money ended up and why Central clubs claimed not to have had URU financial blessings. He was in debt to them and their supporters at least an open book, but all we received instead was a dump of data by shadowy means. The secrecy of URU’s delivery says everything, when a sporting organization is forced to go under cover, trust is undermined. Clubs will be unable to plan for the 7s properly if they cannot confirm what precisely was paid.
Sponsors will naturally get anxious when books of accounts are maintained on WhatsApp and X tweets instead of a public website. For the fans that are already seething at disqualifications like that of Kisubi Pacers, pending disciplinary hearings, and the abrupt cancellation of Kyambogo’s hosting leg that was going to be funded by the Rugby Alumni who were left wondering whether the same secretive processes employed on the pitch are employed off it as well. This is, after all, a player’s story.
From Kisubi University, through Makerere’s “graveyard” pitch, through the half-cancelled Entebbe leg and the final’s deluge at Kyadondo, we saw clubs operating on no guaranteed travel funds, on no tournament doctor, and on no URU-funded ambulance. We felt the upset of Kyambogo Rugby Club when internal university petty politics at the games union scuttled their hosting day, forcing Makerere to cover for them at the eleventh hour.
We witnessed Mukono Hawks balance match preparation and water for thirsty officials. We understand what it is to play when your own organizers are barely able to meet the minimum, I am not even telling the take of neck braces and the 60 minutes games. Unless URU invites clubs to verify the numbers, by releasing full audit reports with signed audits, by releasing transaction records to a public portal, or by hosting an open financial forum with CURA, referees, and sponsors, these numbers will not be believed.
Genuine transparency would stop people accusing “cooking the books” and show URU’s dedication to the sport it claims to nurture. Live dashboards at the next tournament that show budgets, payouts, and acknowledgements in real time online, would show that rugby’s values of honesty and friendship extend as much off the pitch as they do in the scrum.
The first article never had any intention of belittling CURA it was an article written from the point of view of somebody who has been working in club jerseys, a manager, and General Secretary. The write up tried to bring attention to an actual crisis of grassroots funding and to ask URU to celebrate the sport’s grassroots as much as it celebrates its premier competitions. But in the intervening days, URU’s reluctance to publish a clean, club-checked accounting suggests that the matter is deeper than mere arithmetic.
The reality Is that, it Is a leadership crisis. If Ugandan rugby is to flourish, it can’t do so in obscurity. Clubs need stabl,e budgets with which to bring on younger players especially at the regional level. Referees need stable allowances to travel to games. Sponsors need assurance that their contributions will go towards development and not disappear into opaque accounts unless they are in on it and are just money washing through rugby which would be sad. Above all, the fans that pack the sidelines need to be assured that their passion is equaled by administrative integrity. Although the 2025 Central Championship is now history, its lesson remains, we can’t and we should not just sweep them under the carpet.
Real reform will entail URU stepping out of the shadows, opening its books, and speaking directly to the clubs whose very existence depends on open, honest accounting. It is only then that the grass-roots rugby promise can be kept, and generations to come know that when they lace on their boots, they have behind them something stronger than mere rhetoric, and stronger than figures spoken about in secret. These things are not folklore or fiction, there are no Easter eggs in this write up, and there are no landmine, the whole thing is a bid for open honest dialogue for the Uganda Rugby fraternity.
Anyway the election is coming, some of us just have to avoid pouring beer on people before we can pick forms especially for the top office, maybe we need to take on these gaps we are constantly pointing out, through the ballot.
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