Of the latest Africa champions and an American black wave
Of those 11 titles, six have been courtesy of rugby teams, so one would be forgiven for thinking rugby is Uganda’s biggest sport. To rephrase a colleague, the dunderheads in the Government who run things still treat rugby as a ‘small’ sport, which determines its funding, writes Kalungi Kabuye
Lady Cranes jubilate after winning the 2026 Africa Women’s Sevens in Nairobi on Sunday. It is still uncertain whether this achievement will be celebrated or ignored. (Courtesy)
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WHAT’S UP!
At last count, 11 Ugandan national teams had achieved the rarefied status of being called champions of Africa. Being counted as the best among almost two billion people is not small stuff, and is something that should be celebrated. But Uganda is such a confused country that we celebrate all kinds of stuff, but genuine achievements are ignored.
Of those 11 titles, six have been courtesy of rugby teams, so one would be forgiven for thinking rugby is Uganda’s biggest sport. To rephrase a colleague, the dunderheads in the Government who run things still treat rugby as a ‘small’ sport, which determines its funding.
The first Ugandan team to ever become Africa champions was the Rugby Cranes in 2007, when they won the 15s Africa Cup in a monumental tournament in Madagascar. After refusing to give them any funding, the then head of the National Council of Sports, Charles Bakabulindi, showed up at the airport to welcome the team back, complete with motorcades of cheering people and dancing troupes.
The men’s national rugby 7s team has been continental champions four times, while the Cricket Cranes and the national woodball team have each won it twice.
The latest champions of Africa are the Lady Cranes, Uganda’s women’s rugby team, who lorded over everybody over the weekend to be crowned Africa Women’s Sevens 2026 champions.
Will they get a triumphant arch built for them? Victory processions all the way from the airport? Dinner at State House? By the time I wrote this, there had been no whisper of anything like that. If they are lucky, they will be invited to Parliament, get a few minutes in the limelight, and maybe rub shoulders with the country’s highest-paid public officials at the parliamentary canteen.
Incidentally, next year, 2027, will be 20 years since the men’s rugby 15s team opened the doors. But a very big up to the Lady Cranes, who also qualified for the World Rugby HSBC SVNS 3. Which means Ugandan rugby will be played on the global stage, while the biggest soccer event back home is the final of the Masaza Cup. And the dunderheads with the budget strings will shake their heads, but still do nothing.
The American ‘black wave’
There have been millions of words written since the American mid-term last week about the ‘Blue Wave’ that brought the Dotard in Pennsylvania Avenue crashing back to earth. He realised that the time of make-believe was over, and he was mortal after all, and that he was accountable for all the things he did. Or wants to do. The time when the spineless Republicans let him do whatever he wanted was over.
There were actually celebrations in many parts of the world, showing just how tired the world was of the narcissistic megalomania that still heads the world’s most powerful country.
But there is another wave that did not draw as much attention – an African wave. In an unprecedented outcome, dozens of African immigrants stood for and won elections in many parts of the US. These were either second-generation immigrants whose parents were from Africa, or who were born in Africa but became Americans later in life.
The poster boy of this wave is probably Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed, 42, born to Egyptian immigrant parents and set to become America’s first Muslim senator. Even Trump and his vice-president spent time trying to decampaign him, but he won. And Vance will swear him in come January. Talk about karma!
There is Melat Kiros, 29, from Ethiopia, who became the first Gen Z woman elected to the US Congress. Won a landslide, too, to represent Colorado. Adrian Boafo, 32, whose parents immigrated from Ghana, will represent Maryland in Congress.
Somali-born Ilhan Omar, 44, won a fifth term in spite of harassment from the Trump administration, including a Department of Justice investigation. At least four candidates with Nigerian heritage also won, while a few Kenyans won State seats.
So, where were the Ugandans? Quincy Bareebe stood for Congress but lost to Ghanaian Boafo in Maryland primaries. She is notable for having lent her campaign at least $6m.