My appointment at CAS is a national milestone - Rukare

Uganda Swimming Federation boss Rukare (right) talks to students of GEMS Cambridge International School at a Uganda Olympic Committee-organized workshop. Photo by JB Ssenkubuge 

Kampala- The fesitive period has come with a major endorsement for Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) president Dr. Donald Rukare, after being appointed arbitrator at the international Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) based Switzerland.

“This is a huge milestone for me and Ugandan sports at large. I am available to arbitrate any sports disputes,” the lawyer, who also serves as general secretary of Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and vice president of the Africa Swimming Federation (Cana), told Sunday Monitor on Thursday.

The appointment is the second major one for Rukare in two years after he was appointed as a member of the Fina Bureau, a technical decision-making and planning body for the world swimming governing body last year.

He also serves the Fina Masters Committee. “Luckily for me, they are not full time jobs so I can continue to serve in all capacities,” Rukare said commenting on whether the CAS appointment would require him to leave some positions.

“I am already hearing anti-doping disputes under the RADO Results Management Panel,” he added about his experience for the new job.

*CAS is an international quasi-judicial body, obliged to objectively determine facts and draw conclusions from them so as to provide remedies to a situation or impose legal penalties, established to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration.

*The body was originally conceived by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch to deal with disputes arising during the Olympics. It was established as part of the IOC in 1984. But due to links between the IOC and CAS, the court was challenged on grounds of impartiality by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland and certainly underwent reforms to become an independent body.

*All Olympic federations, international and national, have recognised jurisdictions of CAS for anti-doping violations among other disputes.

*November 2009, CAS decided its first case on athlete biological passports, when it upheld the two-year suspension of skater Claudia Pechstein.

*Ousted Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa’s Michel Platini are likely to appeal their eight year long ban, handed to them by Fifa’s Ethics Committee, at the court.

mmuziransa@ug.nationmedia.com