Sports ministry drafts Bill on sports

The ministry of Sports and Culture is at the initial stage of drafting a bill that will promote, encourage and control all forms of sports in the country. In an exclusive interview with Times Sport, the Minister of Sports and Culture Joseph Habineza revealed that the ministry staff is in earlier stages of drafting a bill that will be presented to the cabinet and the legislative assembly. However, Habineza couldn’t give the timeframe when the bill will be debated. According to the Minister, the bill will be in line with other acts that govern sports in the East Africa community to which Rwanda became a member last year. Sneak preview of the bill The bill will call for the creation of a national sports council whose duties have mainly been bulldozed by the larger than life Rwanda National Olympic and Sports Committee. The Rwanda National Council of Sports (NCS) will be established by the government through an act of parliament. Currently before its enactment Rwanda controls its sports activities through a ministerial department. The National Council of Sports will have the mandate of promoting, developing, encouraging and controlling all forms of sport in Rwanda on a national basis. “If we can get this form of committee (National Council of Sports), it can facilitate and encourage co-operation among the various national sports associations and other sports organizations in the country,” said Habineza. The flamboyant Sports Minister went on to reveal that the NCS will assist, whenever possible, sports associations and national, regional, district and local authorities in promoting the development of sport and physical recreation in Rwanda. If the idea of forming an NCS becomes a reality, the burden of preparing athletes to international events will be removed from Rwanda National Olympics committee. “The committee or council will promote on behalf of government throughout Rwanda the highest standards of sportsmanship and discipline through sports activities and I believe this will have a bearing on our showing on the international stage like at the Olympics” Habineza stressed. He added, “In other countries such committees or councils advise the government and any authority on matters relating to sports and I believe if this is done here, it would help us in the development of sports in our country”. Relationship between Ministry and RNOC Earlier this week Times Sport broke the story that, Habineza had directed all national sports federations and the Olympics committee to legalize their operations before January, 1, 2009. This can be interpreted as government inference with the running of the Olympics movement in the country a thing that puts the sports ministry on collusion course with the International Olympics Committee (IOC). Habineza reaffirmed his position saying that RNOC does operate in isolation from the ministry of sports. “Every time any team is going to represent Rwanda out side they run to us (ministry) for support. The ministry is the custodian of national sports so we have a stake in the governing of sports in this country,” noted the Minister. RNOC must operate within the law if we see that there is something that isn’t going well we intervene and most of all they are our partners” Habineza added. In a stunning revelation last weekend during RNOC’s extra-ordinary general assembly it was revealed that RNOC and her member federations are operating illegally. Of all the over 20 federations which constitute the National Olympics Committee, it’s only the Karate (Ferwaka) and Chess (Ferwade) which meet the new drafted rules and regulations. The others including the local football governing body (Ferwafa), the volleyball federation (FRVB) and Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) are still operating under the 1987 law. After realizing that only two federations are operating legally, the election date for the new RNOC executive committee was put on hold until all federations meet the legal requirements. According to Habineza, all laws regarding the governing of sports in the country are set to be reviewed. Ends

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Sports ministry drafts Bill on sports