Immanuel Ben Misagga

Last week was a strange moment in Ugandan football. The sight of Moses Magogo, the Fufa boss, smiling broadly after picking his NRM nomination papers to run for parliament startled me. For months, Magogo has been edgy about his desire to join politics and for a moment, I thought it was a ploy to see who among his inner circle is eyeing his Fufa seat.  I know this for a fact because I worked closely with him on a number of ventures. He likes reverse psychology. If Magogo needs your loyalty, he first gets someone or a group of people to malign you so that you run to him for help so that he emerges as your saviour.  Aside from the football intrigue, I look at Magogo’s venture into politics as a blessing for the game. I say again from my experience of dealing with him. Magogo is a master at lobbying. He will kneel down without being prompted if it means to get your attention. So, with those excellent lobbying skills, I am in no doubt Magogo can become a voice for sports, and in pa...

Immanuel Ben Misagga I belong to numerous football WhatsApp forums, including that of club owners, administrators, sponsors and also players. What I find compelling is that in all these groups, there is a limitation on freedom of speech on football matters. This is more so when I question the level of leadership. Oftentimes, members resort to sending me private messages for fear they are spies in the group. I always wonder; how did we get sink to this abyss? For instance, players that participate in the Cranes Na Mutima regional campaigns have not been paid a coin but always plead with me not to mention their names lest they miss out on being summoned again to the national team. Even some club leaders, who urgently need to clean their house, prefer to show their discontent through private messages.  As for some sponsors, they privately share grievances of Fufa’s corruption and arm-twisting tactics but instead ask me to spare their name in order maintain harmony!  The list of F...