Ugandan Football Federation (Fufa), has imposed provisional 90-day bans on 13 individuals, including 10 referees, following the uncovering of a South African-based match-fixing syndicate.
The investigation, conducted with the assistance of FIFA, revealed that seven games across the second divisions of both men’s and women’s football in Uganda were targeted by the fixing ring between October and December 2023.
“We received a lot of information from intelligence, collaborators and different platforms that there was a vice of match-fixing in Uganda,” said Charles Twine, a member of Fufa’s investigatory chamber. Twine described the problem as “so damaging” and stated that Fufa has “incontrovertible” evidence against the individuals involved in the fixing ring.
The match-fixing scandal has rocked the country, which is scheduled to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Kenya and Tanzania. Fufa’s legal manager, Denis Lukambi, revealed that the detection of “abnormal money” placed on certain games, with the help of FIFA and sports data company Sportradar, enabled the federation to uncover the fixing activities.
Fufa identified the alleged ringleader as Hilfiger Mutyaba, an ex-convict previously charged and convicted in the Virgin Islands for financial-related crimes. Mutyaba and his accomplices are accused of recruiting referee Kaddu Ali to approach players, club officials, and match officials on behalf of the match-fixers.
The 13 banned individuals have 90 days to present their defense, after which Fufa’s ethics committee will determine the length of their suspensions if found guilty. The individuals have the right to appeal within Fufa, and if that fails, they can take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest legal body in sports.
Twine emphasized the need for a collective effort to eradicate match-fixing in Uganda, urging all stakeholders, including the media, sports fans, administrators, and players, to join the fight against this “criminal syndicate” that has infiltrated the country’s football.
The match-fixing scandal in Uganda comes on the heels of the country’s recent move to criminalize the practice, with President Yoweri Museveni signing the National Sports Act into law in August 2023. This legal framework is expected to strengthen the fight against corruption in Ugandan sports.
