By James Robert Kayindi
After receiving a minacious letter from the International Netball Federation (INF) to disqualify the She Cranes’ from this year’s world cup, Uganda has finally cleared bills that require them to stay in the competition.
It should be noted that Uganda had failed to pay fees amounting to about US$12035 (about Shs36.1m) for accommodation and entry yet the deadline(May 7th) had clocked. The failure prompted the organizing team to write a letter dated May 21st to the Uganda Netball Federation threatening to throw the She Cranes out of the competition.
The letter attracted attention from government who responded by cashing in with Shs 250million last week on Friday to help cater for the immediate cost. However this isn’t still enough to facilitate the entire team who require up to Shs 1.8billion to fully participate in the August netball world cup that is scheduled to take place in Sydney, Australia.
“We have cleared with the world cup organizers, but the question now is how soon we will get the remaining money? Because the preparation of the girls is also wanting. We are expecting more money from government but we don’t know how much, Shs250m is little because our budget is Shs1.8b,” Susan Anek, the UNF general president said.
The She Cranes also hope to play in the Diamond Challenge that is set to be in South Africa then latter Namibia between June and July, however this is yet to be confirmed due to the shortage of finances that continue to haunt the team.
Email Robert: Robert.k.circles@gmail.com