Government must aide Franco's burial

One of Africa's most talented boxers of the late 1980s and early 1990s passed on last month in the United Kingdom.

Franco Wanyama, a cruiserweight at the height of his career, died of a heart attack in his flat in Rugby, Warwickshire.

Many must be wondering why I am dedicating this column to Wanyama. A two-page spread and even more articles have already been dedicated to him.

I felt it necessary to keep the deceased in the news because of what his relatives, friends and fans are currently experiencing. It has taken a fundraising campaign in England to ensure his body is transported home next week.

According to members of the organising committee of the burial, here it might take another fundraiser to cover funeral home fees and other burial costs in Kampala and Busia.

Wanyama's wish was to be buried in his ancestral home in Busia next to his relatives. Like most star athletes, Wanyama at the height of his career definitely made his fortune.

Therefore, issues like such fundraisings shouldn't be arising given that there must have been insurance catering for such eventualities.

But like British writer Steve Bunce put it, Wanyama like many a star athlete was shortchanged in his prime.

"He met the usual crooks, chancers and liars on the road and fell victim to the usual curses like any vulnerable fighter. He beat champions, lost to champions and was a decent man: married with three kids, polite, respectful and too nice for the sharp end of the sport," Bunce wrote in a gripping piece in The Independent early this month.

After a career of 20 wins from 29 fights, he started a serious and brutal second career as a paid sparring partner. It can be boxing's forbidden planet, an unregulated world of hurt where men get paid to suffer.

At the end of it all, Wanyama, 51, died a poor man in his tiny sheltered housing facility in Rugby. Bunce's revealing piece tells of Wanyama's attempts to eke out a living as a trainer.

It is for that reason that we should come to the deceased's assistance. The government should, in fact, lead in this effort given that Wanyama flew Uganda's flag.

Like many children growing up in Nagulu and Nakawa up to the 1980s, Wanyama was multi-talented. His dribbling skills and speed could have had him in any football club but he chose boxing. He was an East and Central African middleweight champion.

He then gallantly represented Uganda at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. As a professional, he won the Benelux crown and Commonwealth title later. He did all this flying the Ugandan flag.

Isn't it therefore fair that in the family's hour of need, Wanyama is accorded a respectful burial?

Government and Uganda Olympic Committee should come forth to this national hero's aid.