I endorse Magogo’s move to go to parliament

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 particular football, when he joins parliament.

Put aside the corruption scandals that have marred his seven-year tenure as Fufa boss, Magogo can ably influence other MPs to give sports a bigger budget and focus because sports few things sell Uganda’s international image like sport.

Kachumbali MP Patick Isiagi has a rich football background and I expected him to be central in football matters in parliament but to my disappointment, he has not lived up to the expectations.
 
But with Magogo, I have little doubt he will light up the House and with that, we may be on course for a massive football overhaul. 

I have been severally approached by a number of people to fund the anti-Magogo parliamentary effort or sabotage his candidature but I have always maintained my stand not to fight him on the political front on grounds that it could be a blessing in disguise for sports as a whole.

In fact, I wish him nothing but victory and I take this opportunity to reach out to the sports fraternity to support him.
 
On the other hand, I also expect Magogo to step aside from Fufa when he joins parliament. This is premised on the simple logic that there are many able football leaders to take the game to higher level.

Besides, after 15 years in top football administration, time has come for Magogo to play a different role as football statesman. 

Meanwhile, much as I know he strives to represent the people of Budiope East, he has built his foundation on sports. Therefore, it would be a conflict of interest to advocate for sports interests in parliament when he is actually holding the top football office. 

With the Fufa polls are due in September 2021, now is the time for Magogo to outline his football roadmap. 
So, the same way Dr Lawrence Mulindwa paved the way for Magogo, he should save his legacy by resigning his Fufa position when he joins parliament lest ends up with an embarrassment of being forced out of the game.

The best of luck to him.

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