The Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) under its Legal and Ethics Commission organized the 2nd International Sports Law seminar from the 24th – 26th of November 2017 at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala. Over 30 legal experts and sports administrators from all over Africa attended the 2nd edition of the International Sports law seminar for English and French Speaking National Olympic Committees that included Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Sudan, Namibia, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya and hosts Uganda attended the three-day seminar.
The event which presented an update on the practice of Sports law in different countries like Britain and had speakers deliberate on labour issues, ethical compliance and doping among others, in an effort to facilitate the campaign for sports reforms and enrichment of Uganda’s jurisprudence.
From deliberations of Cambridge University Professor John White and Mr. Dev Kumar a sports lawyer from Institut Superior de Derecho y Economia ISDE who were supported by Christopher Muhawe of UCU Mukono, Mr. Dunstan Nsubuga the UOC Asst Secretary General and UOC Secretary General Dr. Donald Rukare. Uganda should be braced for a long journey if it is to take a lead role in the sector.
Over the years sports disputes in most parts of the world including Uganda, have found their way in from backlog of cases, rather than being resolved in sports tribunal that uphold the autonomy of sport. However, Prof. White, with 40 years’ experience in law was the lead facilitator at the seminar.
This seminar created more awareness to all the different stakeholders that included the National Council of Sports, Attorney General’s office, Ministry of Education and Sports and sports federations to mention but a few.
The seminar was climaxed by the Attorney General Mr. William Byaruhanga who applauded the UOC Leadership, Mr. William Blick and Dr. Donald Rukare for the initiative to bring such a seminar to Uganda. He continued by saying “I do pledge my office’s full support to your efforts to have a regional sports dispute resolution body in Uganda”.
