Uganda: Due Credit to Fufa’s Lawrence Mulindwa

14 May 2011

ST. Mary’s Kitende Sec. School turned it into a ceremony as their victorious school football team in the recently concluded Copa Coca Cola (Post Primary) national championships in Arua returned to Kitende last Saturday.

The school headmaster and proprietor Lawrence Mulindwa was there to receive them and the sight was a spectacle. There was a look of pride as the victors dis-embarked from the elegant looking school bus, with tens of boda boda riding cyclists excitedly doing the rounds blowing whistles and hugging the youngsters.

The boys couldn’t let their moment pass them by. One by one they bounced, swaying this way and that, putting on mean faces with wry smiles, if only to appear focused and professional in front of their beaming headmaster at the gate to greet them.

That must have been their team captain hoisting the trophy aloft, brandishing it in the direction of Mulindwa, who looked permanently enthused.

It was hugs, hugs and more hugs all over. In fact, there were too many hug exchanging bodies, a hooded man could have gotten one himself.

Now five time champions, St Mary’s had been last champions in 2008, which by some stretch of the imagination, has been a strange affair. This is the motivation of this week’s column.

If Lawrence Mulindwa has an admirable side to him (we all do), it is his passion for football and success. He is consumed with a desire to succeed at all costs and if it’s football we are talking about…any cost.

Where others have accused him of being obsessed to the point of mayhem, I admire him for his single mindedness and ambition. The guy has hugely invested in building football infrastructure, not least, a multi million shillings football stadium at the school, which gives Nakivubo War Memorial stadium a good run for it’s money.

He knows how to spot talent and he knows how to value that talent. Like professional football clubs do, Mulindwa will offer bursaries or put big money on the table to bring stars to St Mary’s Kitende.

No crime in that even though his haters have repeatedly tried to make it appear sinful. In the process, the school has become the breeding ground for Bunamwaya FC, putting the club miles ahead of everyone else in creating a youth team structure to feed the main hub.

In fact, St Mary’s ought to be Copa Coca Cola champions every year, if the size of investment, ambition and level of articulation in managing the school team were the only considerations.

That they beat Standard High in the final, another school that also accounts for many talents that have come through over the years, says a lot about the fruits of hard labour. In some ways, I felt touched when I saw the look of satisfaction on Mulindwa’s face as he received the team.

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