Andrew Mukasa’s story: to hell and back

URA and the nation are bracing for the big return to football of Andrew ‘Fimbo’ Mukasa. He was on the bench in the abandoned match against Fire Masters because of the rain, two weeks ago. He could yet make a bow in topflight football in over six years when the Super League champions, URA host KCC tomorrow (Tuesday). That is a hope most true football fans are nursing because Mukasa, a talented footballer has been through a tough time.

Mukasa has been known for two things, amazing flair on the pitch as well as a mental illness that dragged him down for years. What many may not know is that both things started way back, when Mukasa was a young boy.

The sickness
Former Villa skipper Edgar Watson was among the privileged to get close to the striker, when Mukasa was in Primary One at Buganda Road Primary School. Watson was in Primary Seven at Kampala Parents then but would link up with Mukasa at home. And while some people say Mukasa got a mental illness in his early 20s, Watson says it was way earlier.

“That problem started when Andrew was as young as 10 years old, even below,” Watson tells Daily Monitor in an interview, “You could see something was amiss even then.” Watson, who terms Mukasa’s illness as a mental disorder adds: “But it was manageable. When he joined Villa from Puma (First Division), he was a bit fine, though the problem was still there.

“But we knew how to handle him. He would have those outbursts, abuse everyone… but we knew how to deal with it.
“But it got out of hand when he joined Express (2002). They did not know how to handle him,” he says, a statement that is corroborated by Tusher Ruparelia, Villa former team manager, and Wooto Walusimbi, a journalist with Simba FM who has been involved in Mukasa’s recent move to URA.

“When he came to Villa, we knew something was not right,” says Ruparelia. “But we studied him and knew how to live with him. But once he joined Express, the problem (points to the head) deteriorated.

He adds: “When we discovered something was amiss, we arranged with our club hospital, the Abbey Clinic in Wandegeya. Mr (Dr SK) Mutumba got us a psychiatrist. Andrew went there and was treated. He was put on a diet and a psychologist would talk to him from time to time.”

Efforts to talk to Dr Mutumba on Mukasa’s exact condition were futile as he was reluctant to comment when contacted.
Ibrahim Mugisha, Cranes former goalkeeper, one of Mukasa’s close friends speaks of how he found out Mukasa had a problem. “We were in a camp in Jinja and Andrew was on medication for a knee problem. His tablets somehow fell down and he missed taking them for three days. Cleaners picked them and put them on the table. Andrew found them and told me, ‘Senior, I found my tablets and took for even the last three days.’ That’s when I knew Andrew was not fine. By the time I called for him to be rushed to hospital he was badly off.”

Best friend’s tale
His mum Grace Nandawula says there is a strong possibility of her son having been bewitched. But to Ismail Kasoma, the 21-year-old best friend to Mukasa, who has dedicated his life to ensuring the striker lives a decent life, it truly was a mental problem. Kasoma met Mukasa as a child when he joined Express. They became close when Mukasa continuously sent him on small assignments.

When I met Mukasa last Thursday night for an interview, he was still recovering from malaria. The illness had attacked him earlier on Monday but treatment made possible by URA had done the legendary goal scorer good.
He was in much better shape in a red Uganda Cranes shirt, with black track pants. He was even talking about returning to training, but was not in the mood to open up to strangers. Kasoma points to Mukasa’s situation deteriorating when he had just returned from Tanzania, where he led Express to Hedex Cup triumph in 2003.

“That’s when everything started falling apart. He stopped playing and going for training, it really got worse.” Kasoma, who runs a steel spare parts shop in Wakaliga, adds: “He never wanted football anymore. He would just wander around. It reached a point where we had to take him to Butabika in 2004. Well wishers collected money for his bills and food.

“He was discharged after a month but still wanted to walk around, and would chase people. I knew how to get him. I would just tell him soldiers would come for him and he would go back home. “Andrew’s problem returned strongly in 2007/08. All this time we would go to Fufa to ask for help but they would toss us up and down.”

Mukasa was re-admitted to Butabika where he spent three weeks before he was discharged. Back home, the four-roomed house built for him and his mum by Villa had since sunk (it was on a wetland). “Andrew’s bedroom was flooded and the situation was really bad. I explained to coach Dan Ntale (former footballer). He came over and saw.”

Mukasa was vulnerable to frequent fevers around this time. “Ntale mobilised his students at Kampala School of Excellence who refurbished Andrew’s room. He also gave him money, bought food and medication,” explains Kasoma.

Living hell
“Andrew improved. Then some friends advised that we take him to Pastor Samanya’s (Wilberforce) church in Kajjansi (off Entebbe Road) for prayers. “We took him there in 2010 and he spent three to four months there.” Aunt Grace, as Kasoma calls Mukasa’s mum, bought him a mattress and blanket which he used in the church.

“He was tied with ropes to prevent him from running away. He cooled down. He is usually calm when with strangers,” says Kasoma. “I would visit him at the church weekly but one time, after I spent three weeks away, someone told me they had seen him on the streets shouting at taxis. When I went there, I found him at KB Lions training ground. I told him that I saw him on the streets but he denied. At this time, he would walk to town and return to church. He continued watching KB Lions training and slowly started playing with them.”

Mukasa was taken on and helped the Lions get to a quarter-final finish in the Super Mini-League. In the match where they were eliminated at Kitende ground, a fan insulted him and Mukasa got so incensed he played the entire game shouting back at every touch.

He even abandoned the team bus and walked from Kitende to the church in Kajjansi. But the next time Kasoma went to check on him, Mukasa had left the church and had spent one month sleeping under a shade at some woman’s place in Kajjansi.
“What I saw was shocking,” narrates Kasoma, his eyes tearing up. “He was sleeping on a one-inch smelly mattress with one bed sheet, he was very thin with rashes and black spots all over...wearing very dirty shorts.

“Andrew was like a skeleton. His eyes were white and full of fear. If he had stayed there another week, he could have died.” This was just in February this year. Kasoma went back home and arranged with Aunt Grace to have Mukasa taken back to Butabika.
“I had got tired of going to Fufa now. I contributed Shs10,000, aunt Grace brought Shs15,000, and jaja (Mukasa’s grandma) added Shs20,000 and we took Andrew to Butabika.

“One time when I visited him, he told me ‘Mwana Song, kati ngeda nterera,” (Song, I’m now getting better). Mukasa, a fan of Michael Jackson and Lucky Dube’s (RIP) music, calls Kasoma ‘Song’ because of his affection for Cameroonian legend Rigobert Song.

“Around April/May this year, Mukasa was discharged. But a week later, he developed a bad fever. Coach Ntale had travelled to Arua. Kasoma and Aunt Grace took Mukasa to Saka Clinic in Wakaliga where he was admitted, says Kasoma. Between himself, Mukasa’s brother Edwin, Aunt Grace and grandma they collected Shs50,000 but they were slapped with a Shs130,000 bill.
“I asked the doctor to give Andrew to me. I went with him to Fufa. But that Wednesday, Fufa conference didn’t sit. I met Fufa official Kalema and he wasn’t happy I had brought a patient. The big people were out of office. From his own pocket, Kalema gave us Shs17,000.”

The duo went and cleared the remaining Shs65,000 at the clinic. Mukasa steadily improved and even started watching league games. After one of the matches, he was met by Akaboozi Radio journalist who asked to have him on his show.
Mukasa and Kasoma agreed. From the radio show alone, fans raised Shs90,000 for him and sent more via mobile money.
“Let’s first go and pay at the hospital,” Mukasa told Kasoma immediately after leaving the radio, a clear indication he was thinking straight.

Joining URA
Mukasa has watched the Uganda match against Angola at Namboole among many games. It is at this game that the URA project took shape, according to Kasoma. “URA people were seated near us when they called us. One of them whispered to me ‘Is he fine now?’ referring to Andrew. I said yes, and then they said what was needed now was to look after him well, and feed him.

Geoffrey Kyondo, URA’s director of communications, according to Kasoma, said: “We don’t mind even if he does not play for us. All we want is for him to leave happily.” Kasoma adds: “The following week, Kyondo called me to Crested Towers and we went there with Andrew. They arranged for him to go to hospital. But he first refused.”

After getting an all-clear by URA chairman Ali Sekatawa, Walusimbi (the Simba FM journalist), was asked to take Mukasa to Mulago Hospital, at the club’s expense. Mukasa and Kasoma were given Shs100,000 for shopping. Two weeks later, they were given Shs120,000. URA have since advanced Shs1m to renovate Mukasa’s one room abode and plans to build him another house are underway.

“At first, the project was not to bring Andrew back to football but the first day he appeared at URA’s training, he asked for boots and a jersey,” said Walusimbi. He was clearly weak at the time. Apparently, Walusimbi, in trying to help Mukasa, had talked to his former clubs Express and Villa unsuccessfully.

“His training was also because of pressure from Andrew, otherwise it wouldn’t have been that fast.” After signing for URA for two years last month, Mukasa will earn Shs450,000 per month, on top of a meal allowance among others.

On the pitch
Mukasa’s legacy is one of those that will always impress. He helped Uganda’s Under-23 team qualify for the All Africa Games in South Africa in 1999 with goals away in Eritrea and Zambia. He also had a brief stint at Express FC between 2002 and 2004.
Mukasa, 30, became the youngest ever national team skipper at just 20 years in 2000. However, he didn’t enjoy it for long as injury curtailed him.

In his three-plus illustrious years at the Blue end, he helped Villa to four league titles, two Kakungulu Cup trophies, two Super Cups, a Hedex Cup and a Cecafa Cup for Cranes in 2000. He, too, won a Hedex Cup with Express in 2003.But it’s in 1999 that he displayed his free-scoring prowess for Villa, netting a record-breaking 45 goals in the 1999 league season.
“He was phenomenal,” admits Watson, “The most precise finisher in Uganda’s history. I remember against Express, I received the ball and controlled it on my chest…after it bounced off, I don’t know where Andrew came from but I just saw a boot across my face (like a whirlwind) and he had scored.

“But the best goal Andrew has ever scored, the best I’ve ever seen anywhere, was in the Rwigyema Cup in Kigali. I don’t remember exactly who (between Rayon Sport and APR) we were facing but Andrew scored a goal and it took us about a minute to realise he had scored. Our goalkeeper kicked the ball towards the bench on the centre line, Andrew’s back was to the bench, the ball bounced once, he turned and hit it hard into the net. There was silence in the stadium. Everyone stood, the keeper also stood there, not sure. So did the referee. Only Andrew was celebrating with his hand in the air. Only when the keeper picked the ball from the net were we sure.”

Watson adds: “Some people say that may be, because of his condition he did those daring things.” Watson is glad that Mukasa, who started out at Puma before a brief training at KCC, then Villa and Express, is back in the game. “I hope the project at URA rolls off well. And I want to tell you, Andrew shouldn’t be underestimated. I remember one time he told me, ‘Captain pass the ball to the left, don’t use the right. I have scored 16 goals from balls coming from Kadogo (Alimansi, on the left) and only two from Ssozi (Philip), on the right).’”

No one questions his ability. “Andrew will play football. I know him. I played with him and I know he will come good,” concurs his URA coach Alex Isabirye. It actually has never sunk how eight-time champions, KCC, let go of the chance to snap Mukasa.
“The boy wanted Shs100,000 to play for KCC,” enthuses Ruparelia. “KCC delayed and we got him. We got in touch with Hajji Mpanga, the Puma manager and deal was done. Coach Frank Anyau was involved. He took the boy to Hajji Mandela (treasurer) and Andrew was given Shs300,000 and he signed for coach David Otti (RIP). “Andrew just needed an arm around him. His requirements were just very minimal.”

Ruparelia, also a football agent, adds: “All he wanted was to play football. But if you promised him something, you had to deliver.
“He would tell me, manager I will score three goals for Shs100,000, and he would score exactly that. After, he would come near the bench and say, ‘manager, nze maze, nzijayo (manager, I’m through, take me off). From then he would do his best not to score.”

Mukasa allegedly was beaten by a fellow player in the dressing room after their 1-0 semi-final loss to Cameroon in the All Africa Games in 1999. Apparently, he had deliberately refused to tap in Willy Kyambadde’s cross. But Mukasa told us “I just failed to score like any other player.”

Ruparelia rates Mukasa alongside Philip Omondi and Majid Musisi. “They could have been better complete players but when it comes to finishing, no one comes close to Andrew. His work rate wasn’t good, but his positioning, movement and first touch were first class.”

And Mukasa knew his class. One time he assured Ruparelia. “Manager, these Hassan Mubirus, Magumba (Hakim), they are good players. But I’m special. I will go to another club and do what exactly I am doing here.”
Mukasa now rarely walks aimlessly. He trains with URA, returns home and plays his MJ and Dube music, or walks to Kasoma’s shop or home for a chat. Every footballer’s wish is that he gets back to form and does the amazing things he once did.

amwanguhya@u.nationmedia.com