Ogwel declared Unfit to Continue as Accounting Officer for NCS
Frank Semata 
Story source: URN
The ministry of Finance has declared Dr Benard Patrick Ogwel, general secretary of the National Council of Sports (NCS), unfit to continue as the council's accounting officer.
In a letter dated July 25, addressed to the NCS chairperson and copied to the minister of Education and Sports, the permanent secretary for the ministry of Finance, Ramathan Ggoobi requested the chairperson to recommend a new candidate for the role for FY 2024/25 saying that Ogwel is ineligible to hold the position after being implicated by the auditor general for failing to account for public funds and assets in the previous financial year.
“Based on the recommendations from the auditor general and internal auditor general for FY 2024/2025, the current accounting officer, Dr Benard Ogwel, is ineligible to continue executing this role," said the letter.
According to Article 39 of the National Sports Act 2023, which governs the structure of the NCS, the general secretary is appointed by the council's board and serves as the accounting officer of the council. In response to Ggoobi’s request, the chairperson of the NCS, Ambrose Tashobya, in his letter dated June 30, asked the Finance ministry to furnish them with more information.
Tashobya stated that after receiving Ggoobi’s letter, he convened a meeting which resulted in four resolutions. Among these was a request to formally draw the attention of the minister of Education and Sports to the matter for further guidance, given the importance of the government projects currently being executed by the NCS.
The meeting also resolved that “the general secretary of the council be re-instated as the accounting officer for FY 2024/2025,” among other resolutions.
Ogwel’s tenure at the NCS began in 2017 when he joined as an assistant general secretary to Nicholas Muramagi. He became the acting general secretary in 2018 after Muramagi was involved in a motor accident. He was officially appointed full general secretary in 2021.
However, Ogwel’s previous two years in office have been marred by controversy and corruption allegations. In 2022 and 2023, he was embroiled in disputes with former Uganda Netball Federation president Sarah Babirye Kityo, who accused him of corruption. Kityo alleged that Ogwel demanded kickbacks for disbursing funds to support the national netball team.
In 2023, deputy Inspector General of Government Patricia Okiria ordered Ogwel to repay Shs 100 million to the Uganda Netball Federation.
This amount included Shs 29.7 million for a Namibian netball tournament that was neither spent nor accounted for and Shs 70.5 million related to inflated air ticket costs for the same event.
