From Spartans, Kiwanuka Sula lands in Nakifuma

Now he is on a mission to transform Nakifuma into the “Brazil of Uganda”. Kiwanuka, the first son of motorsport administrator, the late Hajji Juma Nkambwe, briefly played for Express FC in the top flight before his career was cut short by injuries. 
In an interview on his ambitions, the city businessman is using football to gain political capital but also repay the sport he loves most.

Who is Sulaiman Kiwanuka and what is your connection to football?

Kiwanuka is a born of Nakifuma in Mukono District to the late Hajji Juma Nkambwe. Sports flows in our family as you can see. 
My father was a coordinator at Villa before he got money to invest in motorsport.
I went to Namagabi and briefly Naggalama Islamic and Kasawo SS. 
I want to talk about Namagabi because it is where I played football. The coach that took me to Namagabi went to all those schools. So, wherever he went I followed him. 
I played football mostly from Namagabi but after school I did not get a chance to play because I started looking for money. 
I was blessed that I started earning at a very early stage. But I was talented. 
After some time I had to play football to satisfy myself. I went to Bweyogerere and played in the Regional League before joining Kireka United under coach Norman Ssemwanga. 
It is from here that I joined Artland Katale then owned by Counsel Muhammad Bazirengedde where I played in the Big League. From there I joined Express under coach Wasswa Bbosa where I played for one season in 2013/14 before I retired. 
My satisfaction was to prove to the world that I could play football because coach Mike Mutebi used to call me a wasted talent.
 
You are now an investor in football. You funded Spartans for some time, what drove you in that direction?

While at Express, I tore my tendon which stopped me from playing. 
This actually killed my future in football. I underwent four unsuccessful surgeries before the fifth helped me back to my feet.
 When I healed, I bought a team. Football is a passion. You cannot just quit football. When I bought Spartans in 2016, I was actually playing too until I realised I was doing so many things to people that did not matter to my life and I quit to join politics.
 

What did you achieve with Spartans?

I did not achieve much with Spartans. But I was happy because I was doing something that I really loved. 
When I bought the club, it was in the district league (fifth division) then we earned promotion to the Regional League. A lot happened because we were clashing with Fufa, so my team was at one time relegated under abnormal circumstances. It was no longer making sense to me because as a club we were not in control of even our players. I then quit football after realising I was wasting so much energy and money on people that did not matter to me. 
That is the reason I came to Nakifuma to be among my people. Coming here, I discovered a lot of talent but realised that everyone that comes to them wants to use them for personal gains. 
They simply organise tournaments where they give goats or bulls leaving nothing substantial. For as long as people gather, they talk to them and go. I want to do something different. I want to spot talent and set up infrastructure that can help these young people continue with their careers.

 You were emotional when you announced quitting Spartans in December 2020 at Below 32 Restaurant in Munyonyo. Has that opinion now changed?

No. if something is going to change, we have to start from the ground up. Let me point out the issue of Isaac Ogwang. His transfer to Villa was the Spark. I had lost about five players in similar circumstances to bigger clubs without any compensation or notification. 
I just found out that players had moved without any notification. I pleaded to Fufa officials about those issues but nothing ever came out. When the Ogwang case came in, they gave me a deaf ear until he was unveiled at Villa.
 The worst bit was that when I checked the Transfer Matching System, he was still a Spartans player yet he was at the same time playing for Villa. 
I really don’t know the logic there. 
That and so many other factors forced me out of football. Afterwards I had to reconsider because I have gained a lot in football, especially friends. I now want to use football to think about improving the lives of other younger people but this time people that directly matter to me.
 
Your mantra now is to make “Nakifuma the Brazil of Uganda”. This particular area in Mukono thrived because of schools such as Naggalama Islamic, Kasawo SS and Namagabi, among others, what approach are you taking now?

First of all, making Nakifuma the Brazil of Uganda is something so big. Big things take a lot of time. I am looking at about 10 years. What I need now is people’s confidence. 
They need to trust me and believe in this dream. It is what I am doing now. When that is done completely, then I will go on talent search. 
I know what I am supposed to do. That is something I have been doing for a long time. When I am done with that, eventually I will have a team in every Sub-County of Nakifuma playing in the league. At the top of it, I want to have a strong support for Nakifuma boys playing in the Uganda Premier League. This won’t come so soon but it will happen.
I actually started the construction of my stadium in Nsaabwa village in Namuganga Sub-County.

 My dream was initially to upgrade the Nakifuma Saza ground but the approval process was tiresome. My lawyers also advised me against investing in such a venture since I could not have any ownership of the property.
 Our decision was to take something like 35 per cent from the facility because the plan was to invest up to Shs500m.
But also, I am strongly involved in empowering players from Kyaggwe County to compete with bigger ambitions. 
In sports, cheering up is one of the contributors of performance. 
My role was to give players morale. What I was doing was that for every goal scored by Kyaggwe at the 2021 Masaza Cup tournament, I would reward them. In total I gave out $1900 (Shs6.6m). Kyaggwe has never won the Masaza Cup so I wanted to boost them. Unfortunately, it did not happen.

I have funded training of coaches in Mukono. I need to have them go to class and learn what they are supposed to teach to the players. That is one of the steps of the whole process.
I am not doing things because I am rich, I am only following my passion. If I were doing things considering what I have, I would have stopped because football consumes a lot of money yet it is very stressful.

From football, now you are into politics. Last time you lost in the primaries of the National Unity Platform, how confident are you now?

I mainly joined politics because I think I need a platform. There are many things that I want to do for my people but sometimes I am limited. I want to use the platform of Parliament to do bigger things.
 For example, I am constructing a stadium, government can come up with something and stop me. I am nothing. The best thing that I can do is keep quiet! If I am elected, I will gain a bigger voice.

Do you have any plans like getting into football administration?
I have put so much money in football – my life, my money, my reputation, everything! I want to get to a point that I earn from it. It may come after even 10 years but I know it will reward me at a certain point. 
I am constructing a stadium, for instance, that will do business. My aim is to have a stadium that can match certain standards.

Anything else that is important you need to emphasise?
Football has to come into the right hands. That is my dream. The current leadership is poor. Those people are very selfish. They actually hate football because if you hate someone that is putting money in football, then you hate football.