Mulindwa's deeds are on the rooftop

Until a certain teacher developed a vision of building St. Mary's SS Kitende, the country would have cared less about Kitende village. Lawrence Mulindwa, the teacher, had a dream but only he can tell whether a football stadium was ever a part of it.

Before it's academic excellence - the foundation of which has turned it into the most sought after private secondary school in the country - there was sporting excellence.

When traditional schools - the likes of Kings' College Budo, St. Mary's College Kisubi, Namilyango College, Kibuli SS, Mengo SS - relaxed on the bursary policy for talented sports students, Mulindwa adopted it as a core strategy to attract the best sporting talent in the country.

From then on, schools looked on with envy as Kitende dominated post primary football and netball tournaments for almost two decades. At the same time, the school had found the secret to academic excellence as well and started attracting similar attention countrywide for academic achievement.

Suddenly, Kitende is no longer a little known village off Entebbe road but the most famous. That was in the 1990s when few Ugandans had even never heard of the name Mulindwa.

It was in 2005, when the St. Mary's Kitende headmaster was lured into FUFA politics, having had a team in the first division (Bunamwaya), that Mulindwa emerged from his shadows. He served as FUFA president for a remarkable eight years (2005-2013), during which time he became the most famous FUFA president in history.

Nothing however, that Mulindwa has done or achieved in his lifetime as a teacher, businessman or football politician compares to the launch of the 20,000 capacity St. Mary's stadium as we saw last Saturday.

A sea of red engulfed the precincts of St. Mary's SS Kitende to cheer on SC Vipers as the Uganda representatives in the CAF Confederations cup took on South Africa's Platinum Stars on the first leg of the event.

Kitende was buzzing with euphoric fans from as far as Kampala, businessmen who were cashing in on the numbers and locals who were simply curious to find out about the latest crowd puller in their backyard. The endorsement of the St. Mary's stadium project by the Vice President, the State Minister for Education and Sports, the Katikkiro of Buganda - all who graced the official launch - brought added significance to Kitende.

Two weeks before the launch, Nakivubo stadium had been razed and for the next two years, there will not be sports activity anymore. St. Mary's stadium, could now easily become the new darling for the annual Masaza tournament, Bika tournament , Uganda Cup, international friendly matches and may be even post primary school competitions.

The Uganda Premier League is guaranteed. As a result of this stadium therefore, we are bound to see the growth in supporter numbers for Vipers, the mushrooming of small scale businesses in the Kitende suburb, the growth of football passion in the villages along Entebbe road and a rise in property fees in the area.

That's the value Lawrence Mulindwa has added to the community that gave him a home to build a school. Even he would not have envisaged the impact his stadium project would bring to the area.

At this rate, were he to dream of joining mainstream politics as an area Member of Parliament, he would be hard to defeat in an election. He has provided all the answers that voters usually ask aspiring candidates; he has provided education, jobs to hundreds of locals, sports infrastructure, careers to the children of poverty stricken parents and opportunities to thousands to earn a living from.

Old students of the school came in their hundreds, thousands of current students paid and turned up to cheer, rival fans came to bear testimony, while ex-internationals and former footballers came to render their emotional support.

Vipers suddenly has not just a following but a fast growing fan base. Mulindwa is not just a football politician, a teacher, a businessman, a football investor but a community leader.

What has touched me more than any of the above however, is his selflessness and willingness to share in his successes with the local community. The man's deeds are on the roof top.