The year was 2016. Alan Okello was the next big thing in Ugandan football. The supremely gifted left-footed 16-year-old was playing football above his age; displaying a maturity and confidence last seen when Jackson Mayanja burst on the scene at the same age while still at Kololo Senior Secondary School on his debut with KCCA FC. 

For Mayanja; later nicknamed Mia Mia during his semi-professional stint at El Masyr in Egypt, it was a start of a glittering career that lasted 16 years before his retirement.

Some, like your columnist, argue that he is Uganda’s best player ever. That is how great his talent was but most significantly for his consistency; how enduring his quality was. 

About the time of Mayanja’s retirement was the emergence of a footballer worthy of one adjective – class. His name; Ibrahim Ssekajja. He qualified to feature in Uganda’s greatest first 18 players alongside Mayanja. Like Mia Mia, Sekajja’s career spanned over 16 years where he played 12 of those years as a professional in Argentina, Europe, and America. He is the greatest player of his generation. 

Arguably, David Obua; who shone at Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa and Heat of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League on his way to becoming Uganda’s top scorer in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying history, is a notable inclusion on this list of successful Ugandan players abroad.

This context is necessary to settle the debate as to why the likes of Okello and  Farouk Miya – the most likely inheritors of Mayanja, Ssekajja, and Obua’s legacy – have all miserably failed the professional test. Miya’s rise on the way to being snapped by Standard Liege in Belgium in 2016 was meteoric. In terms of talent, he wasn’t as pure as Okello, Obua, Sekajja, or Mayanja but his technical gifts were enough to convince anyone that he was destined for the big time. 

Instead, he only played three times for Standard Liege and has been a nomad since; playing for six different clubs in the five years that followed. At 25, he is already forgotten.

Locally – Miya and Okello – it was felt, would be the leaders of their generations but their professional careers suffered a stillbirth. Miya was nurtured by Vipers SC and Okello, by KCCA. The two quintessential examples of top clubs in the StarTimes Uganda Premier League sold players who have turned out abject failures. The clubs made a huge profit and the players' financial fortunes turned around but sadly, their careers stalled instead. It’s double jeopardy.

The list of failed promising Ugandan professional footballers that also includes Yunus Sentamu, Derrick Nsibambi, Patrick Kaddu, Moses Waiswa, and Milton Karisa is endless. The question is why. The truth that Ugandan football can no longer run away from, is that the selling clubs and agents are motivated by the quick buck while the players too are thinking about money, not a career. The class too, in comparison to the talents of yesterday, is different. 

So are temperament, mentality, and ambition. While the likes of Mayanja, Ssekajja, and Obua prided in their talent which became their career inspiration, the likes of Miya, Okello, Sentamu, and others are only thinking about what they can get out of football not what they can give. You can forgive them.  The Mayanjas wanted to leave behind a legacy for generations to come, the Miyas want to amass wealth. Lastly, professional-seeking Ugandan stars today are not mentored or prepared for professional football. 

As soon as they sprout and begin to attract media attention, they think they are ready for professional football. It is when our players go to the South African, Egyptian, Tunisian, and Algerian Premier Leagues for example that they begin to understand what a professional league means. From the club owners,  infrastructure, management, technical team, and players to the training setup, these clubs are different from the amateurish setup here in Uganda. The failure to adjust and adapt at clubs that have no patience for amateurism is the single most reason for the failure of Ugandan players. The onus is on FUFA to find a way to change this.