Nsimbe enjoying the good life as Uganda’s export to Tanzania

What you need to know:

Former KCC football club coach, George Nsimbe is now assistant coach of Azam FC in Tanzania. Mark Namanya caught up with him in Dar es Salaam and they talked coaching, life in another country and the troubles of Ugandan football.

The dusty, bumpy road towards Chamazi is dreary. Located in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam, the Tanzania capital, it is home to mostly low income earners, shacks, and small scale businesses for a people doing just enough to survive.

Life in Chamazi can be typically abrasive, thanks in part to the humidity of areas along the coast. The scorching weather there is such that anything earned in Chamazi would be well and truly deserved.

It is in this setting that former Victors and KCC coach George Nsimbe is living his life today.
The former Cranes midfielder is working as an assistant coach at Azam FC, the champions of the Tanzania Premier League and by far the richest club in the country.
It speaks volumes about the stature of his job as a number two that he is indisputably at a higher level than a coach of KCC, his previous role.
Nsimbe, known as “Best” in soccer quarters after Manchester United legend George Best, has only been at his employers for four months, but he looks at home.
“This is a step up from my previous job,” he says, relaxed and at peace with himself.

When Daily Monitor interviewed him, Nsimbe had just moved into an apartment where Brian Majwega, his player who likewise switched to Azam from KCC, is a neighbour. Their houses are a stone-throw away from the main road of Chamazi that heads to the central business district of Dar es Salaam.

His previous house, a five-bedroom bungalow with a massive compound, was too big and too far from the team’s training complex in Chamazi.

“I told my bosses I wanted a small house near the stadium rather than a big house far away from the team facility,” Nsimbe, who lives alone while providing for his family staying in Kampala, explains. They duly and promptly obliged.

His focus at Azam is such that the superfluity of accommodation is way down among his priorities.
Dreams and challenges
The gravel-voiced coach is serving under Cameroonian coach Joseph Omogi but doesn’t intend to be number two forever.

Fluent in Swahili and brilliant as a man-manager, Nsimbe is intent on improving his coaching career. His sudden but merited elevation has made him yearn for more.

“The irony is that the players at Azam fear me,” he ponders. “However, this is a fresh experience and one I want to use to hit greater heights as a coach. I am handling new players who speak a different language in a different society and environment.”

Working away from home can pose countless challenges but Nsimbe, contractually entitled to two return air tickets every season, has settled in Dar es Salaam so fast, two and a half months since he was lured there.

On the day we interviewed him, he was driving Majwega’s Toyota Carina. Majwega had flown to Uganda for a family matter. Nsimbe’s Rav4 was to be brought to his premises later in the day.
“I have learnt my way round but I am still learning the geography of the area.
“Once in a while, the traffic cops will stop me and scrutinise my Ugandan driving licence. The good thing is that I speak Swahili and once they see my Azam FC Identity Card, they waste no time on me,” he says. “The word Azam is feared and respected in equal measure so that is a vital issue for us.”

The Azam empire is owned by the Bakhresa Group and is omnipresent in Tanzania. It is the country’s largest conglomerate.

Nsimbe is a lover of rice, another factor that hastened his acclimatisation. “When you have rice, you can be sure I will be your friend,” he jests. Wali, as rice is called, is a favourite of many Tanzanian people.

Nsimbe and Majwega are not the first Ugandans at Azam. That feat goes to Brian Umony, the striker now playing at St George in Ethiopia. Nsimbe says Majwega is adored by Azam fans and hopes that more Ugandans can catch the eye of the club’s scouts.

Other Ugandans in employment in Tanzanian football include Nsimbe’s former teammate at KCC Jackson Mayanja, coaching Kagera FC, and Matia Lule at Stand United FC.
“I am in touch with both of them, especially Matia. We talk. But unfortunately I can’t interact enough with the other Ugandan footballers in Simba for fear of being misconstrued.

The rivalries here are deep
The other Ugandans in the Tanzania Premier League – Murshid Juuko, Simon Sserunkuma, Dan Sserunkuma, Emmanuel Okwi and Joseph Owino, are all playing at Simba.

“Uganda has more talent than Tanzania but our game lacks the collective organisation to get the best out of our talent,” he puts it succinctly.

Nsimbe, an electrician by profession, would perhaps wire the warring individuals whose lack of consensus continues to affect the game.

For now, his focus is on Azam FC. Seeing that the club are competing in the African Champions League preliminary stages - they are 2-0 up on Jamal Salim’s El Merreikh with the second leg due in Sudan this weekend - and occupy the top position in Tanzania Premier League table, he is bound to get exposure at the highest level of continental football.

That exposure would do his dream of “coaching Uganda Cranes one day” no harm.

AT A GLANCE

- Nsimbe was born on December 29, 1966
- He is third in a family of two girls and three boys
- His late father Richard Siambe was a Luo from Kenya
- Was raised by the late Paul Nsimbe, who raised him like his own including giving him his name.
- Studied at Wandegeya Moslem school, Kololo High and Lubiri SS
- Idolised former KCC and Cranes star Moses Nsereko
- Played for Red Cross FC, Wandegeya and NIC before joining KCC in 1985.
- Won two league titles with KCC as a player (1985 and 1981) and three Uganda Cups (1987, 1990 and 1993).
- He made his Uganda Cranes debut in 1987. He lifted the Cecafa Challenge Cup with Uganda Cranes in 1989 and 1990.
- In 2008 he guided KCC to a first league in 11 years. He also led them to back-to-back league success in 2013 and 2014.
- In 2010, he coached unheralded Victors to Uganda Cup victory.
- Is married to Florence. They have three children: Collin, 28, Cedric, 26 and Joan, 24.