Mbarara District Decry Limited Funds AHead Of Ankole Sports Gala

As Districts from Ankole region prepare to participate in the forthcoming Football tournament, Mbarara District leaders are worried whether their team will be able to participate due to Funds.

According to Cleopus Musinguzi the Mbarara District Sports Information Officer, the team needs over shs 15m to participate in the Ankole District sports Gala which is slated to begin on 1st July 2022.

‘’ It is unfortunate that the Mbarara District sports team has not received any money. They expect this money from the well-wishers which is a little bit challenging’’, he noted.

Musinguzi is worried that they will face tough times if they fail to collect enough funds from the well-wishers for their team.

“This tournament has come when we are not well organized in issues concerning funds. It is not funded by the government but by well-wishers. Mbarara District Local Government is not mandated to support this because it’s a government, and government runs on budget and work plan and this is something that came in abrupt. It was not budgeted for .It was not planned to happen meaning that as Mbarara District didn’t budget for that but we have to move across the district and get some funding. And if well-wishers don’t come to support us it’s going to be very hard for us to participate when we don’t have funds” said Musinguzi.

Didas Tabaro ,the Mbarara District Chairperson has pledged to support the team individually but he whoever called on all sports loving Ugandans from Mbarara to contribute towards this Noble cause.

“As the District we tried to squeeze in the budget like I directed that District should allocate shs 1 million from local revenue to support the event, however the event cannot be managed by shs 1m this is very small because the income of the district has not grown big enough to facilitate the whole event and do other service delivery, therefore I call upon our people out there to come up and support our team.

Ankole District Sports gala will start on 1st July with group stages in which about ten teams or districts from Ankole Region will be participating. Among the districts that will participate include Mbarara District, Bushenyi District, Sheema District, Isingiro District, Rubirizi District, Ntungamo District, Ibanda District, Mbarara City, Buhweju District and Rwampara District.

The first game will start between Ntungamo District vs Sheema District that will be held at Kakyeka Stadium which will be on 1st July 2022. Mbarara District will also play Isingiro District on the same date at Bwizibwera Playground.