Why Vipers are right to tell Kajoba that he cannot serve two masters at the same time

It is safe to say that the outburst that recently climaxed in Fred Kajoba losing his job as Vipers head coach was not spontaneous. 

There were heavy hints that Kajoba was a dead man walking. Indeed, there was something actively confrontational about his continued stay at Kitende. 

Only with great difficulty was Kajoba able to extricate himself from sticking points that contrived to keep Vipers off the league summit. There truly was, however, no guarantee of a benign outcome after playing catch-up with the likes of Express and URA.

Despite Kajoba telling anyone that cared to listen about enjoying the enormous goodwill of Lawrence Mulindwa, the writing was always on the wall. It was left to Vipers’ director of football, Charles Masembe to administer the coup de grâce. 

Masembe’s judgment was noticeable in placing responsibility on split loyalties. Evidently, there was a dawning knowledge that no coach can serve two masters. While to some this is a classic example of a ruse designed to disguise other misgivings about Kajoba, the charge of serving two masters still gains significant force.

Coaches plying their trade in the Ugandan football landscape tend to exceed their billing by having cross-entity allegiances. The reason why they do such a poor job of not splitting loyalties is obvious enough. 

Money doled out to coaches in this part of the world has always proved woefully inadequate. So they essentially stitch together as many coaching gigs as they can to make ends meet. But while many have never felt wholly adequate to put all their eggs in one basket, Mike Mutebi made it look like such a seductive idea during his most recent spell at KCCA.

Views about Mutebi rarely fall in between. This is hardly accidental as he has never sought comfort in grey areas. He tends to see things in black and white. Such a clear-cut outlook has always helped Mutebi claw back losses while consolidating himself in power.
 
The effective authority he wielded over KCCA showed itself true when he took the garbage collectors to the group stage of the Caf Confederation Cup (2017) and Caf Champions League (2018) across successive seasons. It’s hard to imagine that Mutebi would have enjoyed such runaway successes had he not given his KCCA job undivided attention. He made good on his promise to give his all unstintedly to KCCA.

If Vipers is now warming up to a similar approach that is steeped in professionalism, the powers that be will have few regrets. It is undoubtedly the way to go, and in good time will offer a measure of the distance travelled. 

Given the wherewithal Mulindwa has at his disposal, the Venoms shouldn’t struggle to come up with a pay packet that will ensure that their head coach performs duties fearsomely well. This can only be the case if the person in question is compelled to give undivided attention. Specialisation and not moonlighting has got to be the name of the game.

Unfortunately, this rang increasingly hollow with Kajoba who is notably unapologetic about being a good goalkeeping coach. As he now settles into one job posting, Kajoba will doubtless appreciate the merits of specialisation. Denis Onyango’s retirement as Cranes goalkeeper means Kajoba will have his work cut out grooming the next No.1. 

The immediate past Vipers head coach will thus do well furthering his knowledge in goalkeeper coaching. Kajoba always knew that last season’s league win was always going to be an underwhelming measure of his impact. It felt wrong to bestow the highest praise on him for a win that was hardly the product of swaggering certainty.

A new mood of impatience was already taking hold this season after an aggressive spending spree failed to establish Vipers as the team to beat. Your columnist has it on good authority that there was deep mistrust in Kajoba. Some of it was conscious, some subliminal, but it was there. 

By asking Kajoba to choose one master, Masembe has, perhaps unintentionally but not unsuccessfully, established a tradition that the Venoms should stick with.

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Twitter: @robertmadoi