)
Alur Kingdom has submitted a formal request to the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) seeking independent recognition in the upcoming edition of the FUFA Drum tournament, separate from West Nile Province.
In a letter dated June 5 and addressed to Rogers Byamukama, the FUFA Drum Organizing Committee Chairman, Lawrence Opar Angala, the Prime Minister of Alur Kingdom, extended an invitation for a meeting on June 26 to discuss their concerns.
The essence of Alur Kingdom's argument is that the current format of West Nile Province in the tournament lacks a unifying symbol, unlike other provinces such as Tooro, Buganda, Ankole, Teso, and Busoga, which all have a common language associated with their respective cultural institutions.
"West Nile Province consists of 12 districts and one city, with diverse communities speaking over eight languages. This linguistic diversity has created difficulties in establishing a common language within the West Nile cluster," states a section of the petition submitted by the Alur Kingdom.
)
Alur Kingdom, which encompasses the districts of Pakwach, Nebbi, and Zombo, suggests that FUFA divides West Nile Province into two separate provinces.
Introduced in 2018, the competition is played among 16 provinces of Uganda under the slogan 'Celebrating our ancestry' to search for new talent across the country.
The participating Provinces since inception are; Buganda, Lango, Tooro, Karamoja, Kampala, Ankole, Bukedi, Sebei, Busoga, Bugisu, Kigezi, Rwenzori, West Nile, Bunyoro, Teso and Acholi.
)
The first and second editions in 2018 and 2019 were won by Buganda Province and Acholi Province, respectively.
West Nile Province is the current title holder of the FUFA Drum championship.
However, despite the request, FUFA released the draws for the tournament's fourth edition, which introduces a new playing format with more matches but retains the same teams as the third edition.
Groups
Group A: Teso, Winner between Ankole and Bukedi, Acholi
Group B: Lango, Kampala, Winner between Rwenzori or Kigezi
Group C: Winner between Busoga and Karamoja, West Nile, Bugisu
Group D: Winner between Bunyoro and Sebei, Tooro, Buganda
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)