More transparency for the Cranes job is needed

Two months ago, when Sebastian Desabre shut the door on the Cranes, I said our 15 years of foreign national team managers wasn’t re-assuring to any local manager who had designs on the job. Earlier this week, this paper reported that none of the 67 applications was from a Ugandan. Seemingly it’s because ‘everyone knows’ the position is ring-fenced for expatriates.
Seeing no memos have been passed to this effect, this might as well be a crisis of confidence. Either way Fufa should be worried about this lack of interest from Ugandans, for a Ugandan job.
And I say this without a bone of xenophobia in me. But if Fufa isn’t getting any pings from locals for the top job in Uganda football, then they should extend a helping hand to those showing even the slightest form of interest.
This is not to say foreigners need not apply. But if they are to be considered then the skills they bring to the table must be in short supply. For that matter are the abilities of Sebastian Desabre far divorced from the abilities of say Moses Basena?
The answer to that can only be found in the detail of the selection process. Admittedly this is information that never has to leave the corner offices at Mengo. But if such as this, the job is of national interest, Fufa ought to be more transparent than they have been so far. Their HR policies must extend beyond simply saying they are an equal opportunity organisation. They certainly don’t need local managers running around giving interviews about how reserved that top job is.
For that matter what Fufa should have done upon Sebastian Desabre’s departure two months ago is to go public on the criteria they would employ in pursuit of their person. And I am not suggesting a national referendum on the matter, but a semblance of transparency could easily be achieved by making public the job description, performance indicators, experience and compensation. This way if a foreigner ticked more boxes than a local it would be clear and all interviews about a rigged process would have sounded hollow.
I very well know Fufa isn’t a publicly listed company with a mandate to be overly predictable. But it may as well be, because the last thing you want while selecting an unlikely candidate is to have the process shrouded in mystery. And that, it is so far.
But if as is it, it’s too late to unveil the process and our latest search still throws up a non-Ugandan, so be it. But I reckon the federation can still redeem itself by launching a future where Ugandan managers will not feel marginalised. They must slap a well-meaning a three-year cap on tenure at the maximum for any expatriate managers. During this period a clear mandate on grooming a local assistant to take over must be non-negotiable.
And while we are at that we can’t continue to have expats as team physios or warm-up assistants. Surely.