Why all Ugandans should be players at AFCON

By Tom Ongeso

President Museveni is the national team's political captain. As a martial general, he has mentored them on game strategy and tactics, preferring the ennyanda (thunderbolt) scores. He is the father figure to the team, sharing a meal at State House both before and after their big matches. He has paid early to cover the tournament and welfare expenses. The current budget resonates this support where Shs 10 billion has been ring-fenced for soccer development.

Uganda has clear credentials as a soccer powerhouse. As a legacy, Uganda, in the colonial period, recorded victories even in England with the bare-foot teams of stars like Okot p'Bitek, before he wrote Song of Lawino. After independence, Uganda pulverised regional and continental tournaments. In 1978, the Crested Cranes were favourites to lift the Afcon cup against the host country, Ghana. But, in the risks of the time, the team was booked in a hotel with a noisy night-club, were denied sleep, food of choice, and, on match-day, transported on the energy-sapping tracks between Accra and Kumasi with a hostile crowd. Even without the cup, they and the German ace-coach, Burkhard Pape, were cherished and received back home as heroes.

Uganda's soccer pedigree has never vanished. Soccer is the best form of human expression and Uganda has gifts. It is God's Garden of Eden. It is Sir Winston Churchill's Pearl of Africa. It is the land of ultimate faith and martyrdom. It is the source of the Nile. It is the land of milk and honey. Soccer is the people's passion, with powerful players. The discipline and charm in the fans deserve a world cup award.

Uganda should, therefore, reclaim the 1978 Afcon cup because we lost it in mistreatment. The dream-team should have been assembled in 2017, drilled and competitively exposed to the best sides in Brazil, Germany, France and Italy to professionalise and instil in the boys the one single goal - to win.

Coach Sebastien Desabre now has exactly this challenge. From media clips, there is, in Abu Dhabi, the superb physical and mental training of the boys. But, in the high pitched appeal of our French tactician, overwhelming national fan-support should accompany the team to Cairo to inspire actual victory. Captained by Denis Onyango, the team has the stars, like Farouk Miya, to upset the odds. The coach saw this to delay talismen like Allan Okello.

To balance the boat, all Ugandans should be role players in Afcon 2019. The President may direct Uganda's new Bombardier aircraft to carry the Cranes to Cairo. This has magical powers for nationhood where even Presidents, like Barack Obama, nearly did, jet in to attend soccer show-pieces of this kind. Parliament should emulate Speaker Alitwala Kadaga, who braved the Gabon jungles in Afcon 2017 in stadia like Oyemi. The Judiciary may follow, where the Deputy Chief Justice, Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, praised the athletic stamina of minors who walked from Gulu and Kabale to Namugongo. The line-Ministers should take lead to instil patriotism in the team. The Ambassadors and Ugandans in the diaspora should ensure logistical and welfare support - from training pitches to food including ugali and matooke. Corporate bodies like MTN, Airtel, the breweries and the airlines should support and facilitate the soccer fraternity to fly to Cairo. Parents and lovers should encourage the players to play for country first, to be spotted later by agents of Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, Mamelodi and Gor Mahia. Afande Sabiiti Muzeyi may grant clearance to the public for soccer-power processions, in national colours, and curtain-raiser matches throughout the country.

Afcon 2019 is to recapture Uganda's soccer glory. It may, however, be dedicated to Apollo Nsibambi for his sense of discipline; to Ambassador Julius Onen for his "magnet" goal-keeping in St. Peter's College, Tororo to stop some of Denis Obua's thunderbolts; and to Nyamusinga Christine Biramukara and Commissioner Christine Alalo for their political and peace endeavours.

Like the River Nile, the Crested Cranes may conquer all the rapids and waterfalls in its mighty flow to the Egyptian Delta to stream at least three goals into the Mediterranean net: Uganda 3 Egypt 0.

The writer is a co-founder of the Adriano Oriekot Football Tournament in Kaberamaido, Teso Sub Region