David GOMBE
National Council of Sports (NCS) has fired a warning to sports federations and associations that are yet to meet registration requirements under the National Sports Act.
According to NCS General Secretary Bernard Patrick Ogwel declared that several bodies do not meet requirements don’t qualify to be called “national” federations.
While briefing the media on Friday at the NCS headquarters, Ogwel updated on the ongoing registration and compliance process in line with the National Sports Act CAP 151 and the National Sports Regulations 2025.
“Following our evaluation and monitoring across the 146 districts, we have discovered that some federations should not even be called national federations maybe village federations because they operate only in specific areas.”
Ogwel also revealed the key challenges encountered during the registration exercise
“None of the applicant organizations fully met the statutory requirements under the act and the regulations at the time of assessment, indicating significant governance, structural and administrative gaps across the sector. Several Fedcrations and Associations exhibited limited internal capacity to promptly interpret, operationalise, and comply with the new legal and regulatory standards. A number of applicants submitted incomplete documentation, inconsistent records, or delayed responses, thereby prolonging the assessment process. Some organisations were affected by unresolved governance disputes, leadership conflicts, or unclear constitutional arrangements, which hindered compliance verification.”
45 federations/ associations out of 51 submitted their documentation last year.
BOARD RESOLUTION AND WAY FORWARD
According to NCS, the findings were presented to its Board and at its sitting in December 2025, the board resolved to grant all non-compliant applicant organisations a remedial compliance period of five (5) months, effective from the date of receipt of the NCS communication of 7th January 2026 by the respective national sports organisations, within which to fully satisfy the outstanding statutory requirements.
Failure to attain full compliance within the stipulated period shall result in:
• Automatic rejection of the application for registration; and
• Revocation of the organisation’s Certificate of Recognition, in accordance with the Act and the Regulations.
