After unopposed re-election, Mwase charts course for aquatic sports growth

Uganda Aquatics president Moses Mwase has promised the swimming fraternity to kick-start several initiatives that he hopes will drive the organisation forward after re-election with his executive for another four-year term.

Mwase was returned unopposed alongside Peter Mugisha (vice president-administration), Tonnie Kasujja (vice president-technical), Max Kanyerezi (general secretary), Mary-Ann Isabirye (assistant general secretary), Florence Nakakawa (treasurer), Mubarak Semanda (western region representative), Peter Buvumbo (Kampala), and Elizabeth Kabahenda (women representative).

Uganda Aquatics president Moses Mwase (center) addresses their elective assembly at the Copper Chimney, Lugogo, flanked by Tonnie Kasujja (left), Peter Mugisha, Max Kanyerezi (2nd right) and NCS's James Kasumba. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

The only elective post on the day (Regional Representative Northern) pitted Asuman Nyonyintono against Mary Kezia Mukama, with the former winning it 13-8 votes. Senior lawyer Kenneth Akampurira conducted the elections. The other posts that remained vacant include those of the regional representatives for the central and eastern regions, which didn’t have candidates fulfilling the electoral guidelines.

“One of the pledges we have made as the very first thing is to ensure we obtain a license from the National Council of Sports because we must have recognition and a license first. So, we are putting structures in place that are required by the government to demonstrate presence in over 51 per cent of the districts in Uganda,” Mwase said.

“We have also pledged to improve our governance and continue to be transparent and accountable as expected of people who are conversant with what governance requirements demand.

One of the swimming delegates votes during the Uganda Aquatics elective assembly at the Copper Chimney, Lugogo. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

“We are also going to look out for more funding opportunities and we are putting in place an Aquatics Foundation to reach places outside Uganda—in Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Asia and other places—so that we can expand our reach and other potential partners that can work with us,” Mwase stated.

Mwase said they were in advanced stages of accessing land in Kyambogo in conjunction with the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) under projects supported by World Aquatics and ANOCA, where they are sponsoring an office building for the UOC but also supporting the construction of the swimming pool.

“We signed an agreement with World Aquatics that requires us to construct that pool and lay the ground before December 31,” Mwase stated. He said the offer was extended when outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach visited the country last year.

“We also have commitments from Makerere University and the Uganda Christian University (UCU), which has invited us to have a conversation with them on how we can make this dream possible because they also have land where these facilities can be set up,”

Mwase noted that World Aquatics will next month send two engineers to inspect the land on which the 25m pool will be built. He said they will also explore options for whether an Olympic size pool can be set up at either Makerere, UCU, and/or at Namboole.

He said Uganda Aquatics also wants to ramp up their secretariat and leadership structure by hiring a CEO for the first time and to be able to serve all the communities throughout the country.

He added that they are also going to realign their strategic plan to ensure it is in sync with the new sports law and align it with the new body, Uganda Aquatics.

On how they are going to spread the sport throughout the country in the face of inadequate swimming pools, Mwase said they have first done a headcount of all private swimming pools but also identified the open water bodies where they are going to begin to roll out open-water swimming.

“We want to use the open water bodies so that those places can be used because we have six disciplines: swimming, open water swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving, high diving, and the masters.

“So, for the open water bodies, we should be able to do a lot more. We can also do water polo there, so we are being creative, but we also want people to be able to move where the pools are across district and regional lines, so we are working on a plan that will ensure that we are not hapless. We want to be able to achieve these requirements in all the corners of Uganda using these creative ways,” Mwase stated.