Greed Cited in Cranes Sit Down Strike
The Uganda Cranes are the second team together with Zimbabwe to go on a sit-down strike and miss training over alleged unpaid allowances at the on-going 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
The Nigerian team players also boycotted one of the mandatory press conferences over unpaid winning bonuses.
Ahead of a crucial game against Africa’s best-ranked team Senegal on July 5th in the round of 16, the Cranes failed to show up at the Arab Contractors Stadium on Tuesday evening for training.
The players were protesting their ‘unpaid’ bonuses amounting to Sh22 million ($6,000) for beating DRC and drawing with Zimbabwe.
However, the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) says they already paid the accrued amounts to each player with many Ugandans on social media accusing the players of greed.
Read FUFA statement below
On the 2nd July 2019, The Uganda Cranes did not undergo training after players opted not to despite a training program released by the technical team.
FUFA has since engaged the players and confirmed that a complaint about emoluments as their cause of action.
FUFA wishes to affirm that matters of the rights and obligations of the members of the Uganda Cranes at the AFCON 2019 inclusive of the allowances and bonuses of the team were discussed and agreed upon by the team and were put into a document called the Code of Conduct.
Every member of the team signed the Code of Conduct before being allowed into the camp.
The financial structure to be paid to each member of the Uganda Cranes in the Code of Conduct is as follows;
| Item | USD | |
| Camp in Uganda per day | 14 days | 30 |
| Foreign Camp (Abu Dhabi & Cairo) per day | 53 days | 150 |
| Each Draw in the Group Stages | 2,000 | |
| Each Win in the Group Stages | 4,000 | |
| R16 to R8 (Winning @ R16) | 1 | 5,000 |
| R8 to R4 (Winning @ Quarter Final) | 1 | 7,000 |
| R4 to R2 (Winning @ Semi Final) | 1 | 9,000 |
| Winning the Final | 1 | 14,630 |
FUFA has already paid the following amounts to each member
- 420 USD for the Camp in Uganda (14 days)
- 5,100 USD for the Foreign Camp (34 days ending 30th June 2019)
- 4,000 USD for the Winning Bonus of the DR Congo match
- 2,000 USD for the Draw against Zimbabwe
Far and beyond the Code of Conduct, FUFA has also paid extra 2,780 USD to each player for camp morale and 300 USD for the International friendly match against Ivory Coast.
As of 2nd July 2019, each player has received up to 14,600 USD (App 55m UGX) already with more daily allowances and winning bonuses awaiting to be earned and paid on time.
According to FUFA, there is currently nothing owing to the players as per the signed Code of Conduct and more than 2 Billion UGX has been paid to this item alone.
This matter has been explained to the players and instead they have opted to renegotiate the terms of the Code of Conduct after qualifying to the round of 16 leading to the decision not to undergo training.
FUFA believes the players will respect the signed Code of Conduct and this matter will be resolved like many others before.
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