More culprits are being identified and allegedly been accepting cash as low as Shs500,000 to fix results.
Fahad Kawooya thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, collect the pay-off and start paying off debts.
But the broke and desperate footballer soon learnt that one match would not do it. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another.
And so it went until, in what he described as his “worst moment”, his game partner and longtime friend Richard Kasagga ‘snaked’ him by confiding in URA head coach Kefa Kisala about why the well-funded club secured maximum points on only three occasions, while registering eight draws from their twelve games played thus far.
Kawooya, a Uganda international and erstwhile Saints FC defender was on Monday reportedly been banished indefinitely by his employers as punishment for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing racket.
He confessed on tape to coach Kefa Kisala and other top club officials after he was suspected accepting cash as low as Shs500,000 to fix results.
Kawooya, 23, is one of at least 5 URA players going to be arrested after this weekend’s 2018 World Cup qualifier that pits Uganda against Congo Brazzaville over the alleged match-fixing following an internal investigation led by the Uganda Revenue Authority officials and local Police.
Authorities are said to be investigating a number of matches, including URA’s 1-1 draw with Express FC, on November 1 in which veteran Rwandan strike Bokota Labama’s effort for the tax collectors was cancelled out by a controversial Herman Wasswa goal late in the second half. According to Uganda’s constitution, the men if found guilty charged for “causing or attempting to cause disorder with the intention of jeopardizing Uganda’s sovereignty, integrity or national unity, shall be liable for life imprisonment.”
The Federation of Uganda Football Association’s Match Result Manipulation Committee headed by Zirabamuzale Muzafaru will after the international break issue their verdicts on a racket of local league players, coaches, journalists and Uganda sports betting authority the Sports Betting Association of Uganda (SBAU) bosses after URA FC forwarded the Kawooya case to the football body on Wednesday.
URA’s decision represents a dramatic fall from grace for Kawooya, given he occasionally captained the Lugazi based club funded by taxpayers’ money and had also chivalrously skippered another government Authority, Kampala Capital City Authority’s football club, the current Ugandan League table leaders and reigning champions.
The scandal comes just ten days after Express FC sacked their head coach Wasswa Bbosa which insiders say was for for their part in the match-fixing episode under investigation. An impeccable source told this news website Bbosa would even let his opponents ask for specific referees, known to be friendly towards them, for their matches a sin that incensed new club chairperson Hon. Nakiwala Kiyingi, Uganda Minister for Youth.
Fufa, Police drew a veil over the fault line
Uganda club football may have been characterised by the near absence of match fixing claims in the past decade, but those in the know were never in doubt about the presence of a proverbial elephant in the room.
Fufa recently suspended coach Sam Ssimbwa for eight months for comments after comments he made about giving money to officials to fix matches. His new club Soana alongside Express FC, Bright Stars and Police FC are all under investigation for being involved in the practice’s current circle.
In November 2014, the Uganda FA President, Moses Magogo said because of public outcry and allegations involving Uganda Cranes 2-0 loss to Guinea in the last 2015 Afcon qualifier, they decided to hand the matter to the police to investigate. Fufa has since been adamant on giving information about this matter and Asan Kasingye, the Assistant Inspector General of Police and Director of Interpol and International Relations who had vowed to investigate the scandal to the core has also never gone public with his finds.
TheUgandan in an investigation have found that online bookmakers have raked millions of money through influencing sports corruption or match fixing. Time and again, concerned parties with Ugandan football which include managers, coaches and former professionals have expressed fear that football athletes may be targeted by criminal gangs, exploiting poverty conditions in Uganda. Uganda is currently ranked in the top twenty poorest countries in the world (CIA World Report)
For now, the biggest concern remains on regarding to the regulation and monitoring of online bookmakers accepting bets on UPL matches.
By Stephen Muneza Kagabo, Managing Editor & Co-funder
