I fought Kakaire despite being my uncle - Faisal

Faisal Muhammad has been an immensely influential figure in football, especially in the Eastern part of the country for over four decades.

The businessman has sunk quite a sum of his fortunes in football, especially Jinja Municipal Hippos, a club that he owns the majority shares in.

His unregulated funding of football activities has often led him to clash with his own family

Held in high esteem by a large number of players and stakeholders that he has groomed since 1977, Muhammad has not been short of controversies.

From being branded an ‘Obua person’ because of his support for the late Fufa president to a frosty relationship with the successors, Faisal has seen it all. He talks to Fred Mwambu for Sunday Monitor.

Who is Faisal Muhammad?

Generally, I’m a businessman and football administrator who has worked for the game for over 40 years.

How did you enter football?

Personally, I did not play to a recognizable level but I just loved football. I started working for football in 1977 as a fans coordinator when Nile FC was still Jinja Hot Stars. I was then elevated to the position of organizing secretary for the club the same year. We moved to merge the team in 1978 to Nile FC where I was made the assistant team manager working under the late Muhammad Nvuluga. We worked hard and managed to take the league in 1980 becoming the first team outside Kampala to achieve that.

What has motivated you to stay for all that long?

I just love the game and always want to make my contributions. I have spent a lot on this regard to an extent that my family complains.

Briefly, take us through Ugandan football over the 40 years in your own lenses.

There are so many things that have changed. For example, right now, the players get good money especially when they go abroad. It is also easier to make it abroad these days because if I look at the players we have now and compare them to the likes of Philip Omondi, maybe, if they were to come back in this generation, we would have so many in the top European leagues. They would get very little money but they had the passion.

The government of Idi Amin supported the national teams a lot at that time and that’s why we achieved that success in 1978. The government also financed clubs that were representing Uganda. Things changed from 1980 until recently when the government started injecting money and you can see some achievements. So, the federations struggled a lot from then.

There’s also a problem with the selection of players to the national teams from up country. This is an issue that has affected clubs.

Why do you have an issue with that?

This problem has not started now. We had a similar problem in 1978 and you know I don’t mince my words. I beg for forgiveness from my friend and old man Bidandi Ssali for saying this but I used to quarrel with him on the same issue. We had good players then but they were being dropped from the national team. The problem is cropping back. I don’t call it sectarianism but ‘Kampalaism’.

There’s a problem with coaches that if you don’t go to Kampala, then you’re not ready to be in the national team. I think Fufa has left a lot of authority to the people around the team.

For example, we lost yesterday [March 2] at the Under-20 [Afcon] yesterday but it’s because [Jackson] Mayanja is not being fully respected by the players. You cannot be the director of youth and you’re again coaching the same teams. This is what Bashir Mutyaba is doing. This is the same problem that we’re facing in the Cranes. I labelled the coach of the senior team Micho (Sredojevic) an agent. Mr. Magogo has to put a technical committee to audit the coach and his selections.

Don’t you think by doing that, Fufa will be interfering with the coaches’ work?

We’re in a problem because they are not sincere. [Sebastian] Desabre was here, got a very good side and they started playing good football. He was doing a lot of research on the right players. You cannot take a goalkeeper who is not featuring for his club regularly to the national team. I’ve worked with several coaches, even the local ones but there’s a problem somewhere whether they [coaches] are being bribed or something else that needs to be checked.

Which player ranks best among those you groomed?

It is very hard to pick because I’m proud of most of them but I can say that I groomed Isaac Isinde, Moses Oloya, Andy Mwesigwa, Timothy Batabaire and recently Milton Karisa among others. I think Karisa has gone through a tough path to be where he is.

How much has club football developed?

The league that we had in the 70s, 80s and early 90s had fans. We could generate money from gate collections. Now teams cannot even collect sh1m apart from a few like Busoga United when at Kakindu. Even big matches like Villa and Express are played in empty stadiums.

Where did it go wrong?

We have a lot of problems but match-fixing is the biggest. It is chasing fans away. We didn’t learn from the Akol saga.

I discovered that even the referees bet matches when we were in the [2016] Fufa Assembly in Luweero but were rubbished by Justus Mugisha (Fufa 1st vice president). We’re now seeing them being banned but the damage has already been done.

Isn’t Fufa doing a lot to curb it?

They are but we need to do more collectively. We also have the issue of bias when the committees make judgements. Recently, Jinja North United scored a clean goal against Vipers but was cancelled then Fufa worked on a case between Bul and Villa and ordered a replay a day later. So, there’s that element that some fans will think other teams are favoured and when they react we see what happens.

Remedy?

Mr. Magogo tried to put in [Ronnie] Kalema to sanitize the refereeing but failed. He has put Brian [Nsubuga]. We hope it improves. There’s a problem of sectarianism in refereeing which the president should look at. We’ve seen very good referees like [Immaculate] Achiro who have been serving well but they’re not proposed for Fifa badges. This is a problem that the president must act upon because it is cropping back.

How heavy is it to finance a club in Uganda?

It is a sacrifice! [Sighs] If you sit down to count, you will leave the game.

With this experience, why did JMC Hippos go under?

When I talked in Luweero about this vice of match-fixing, we realized late that there were some players who were actually fixing our games. That brought us down.

Two, the problem with Jinja Municipal Council is that they give less. They might give the team Shs10m and then I could not sustain the club alone. My family was also and still is complaining a lot that I was wasting a lot of money.

My only satisfaction in football is to see the players I groomed go on to realise big dreams.

There’s this never-ending debate of who the best player of Uganda is, what’s your opinion?

Anyone who didn’t watch Philip Omondi play is very unlucky. [stares at the ceiling board as he leans backwards to reminisce]

There’s an Afcon qualifier [1975] that we played against Zambia. Uganda had lost 2-1 and needed at least two goals but Omondi came in the second half and drove the team to a 3-0 win and qualification.

Now into politics, take us through the Fufa regimes over the years. 

I worked closely with the late [Twaha], [Denis] Obua, Dr. [Lawrence] Mulindwa and now Eng. Moses Magogo.

I was one of those who fought Kakaire even though he was my uncle. There are delegates who helped him get the seat but he didn’t help their regions much. At one time, we had football tournaments played in Jinja but all the administrators came from Kampala!

The late Obua empowered and gave a lot of opportunities to delegates because those are the core of football in Uganda. But now, the employees at Fufa are more powerful than the delegates, which is wrong in football. These delegates are the ones that are holding the roots and spending their money and time.

I see that Magogo has tried to improve that by making delegates the leaders of delegations for national teams

That’s not enough. Help to skill these delegates and lobby for them to get positions in Cecafa, Caf and Fifa. Instead, the delegates go for the trips but it is Fufa employees that are getting those positions.

Fufa employees only give delegates respect during assemblies, otherwise they don’t because they know that their boss is the president.

We didn’t have a lot of money coming from Fifa, Caf and the government during Obua’s time but the delegates were happy and strong. For example, Obua gave Andrew ‘Zzimwe’ Kasagga the contract to build the Fufa House because he was investing a lot of money in football. Now we have projects but you don’t give people like [Joseph] Mwanje who have been working football but giving other contractors. I talked about this in one assembly and was shut up by Justus Mugisha which was wrong.

Back to the regimes…

Obua left a poor man because of football. There were forces that fought him for some reasons until they jailed him and then Mulindwa came. Those people know themselves, they are still there.

At first, I was among those who were labelled ‘Obua people’ but Mulindwa came to realise that in football, you have to join forces and work together. He gave me the priority to be his chief whip in the assembly and team manager of the Under-20 until he left the seat.

Mulindwa had minor human weaknesses but he was generally a good administrator. I think the only issue that worked against him was that the national team wasn’t faring well for reasons that I don’t know. I don’t know the reasons that made him resign.

On Magogo?

There are things that I disagree with, for example when the late Abel Dhaira passed on, they gave us assurances that they [Fufa] were going to take over and develop what is now called ‘Abel Dhaira Stadium’ in Walukuba. We made sure that the council [Jinja City] got the freehold license whereby we could even give Fufa a lease of 99 years but it has not happened.

I disagree with him because he is only developing Buganda [region] and neglecting Busoga and the rest. These people are confusing him to develop infrastructure in only one region but we want him to come to Jinja, and go to Mbale, Soroti, Lira and other regions because these regions are producing good players and administrators as well.

What more do you want him to do?

I think he has also worked. Even if people say that he has eaten money, I don’t care because I see something different.

We had a very small office at Lugogo during [John] Semanobe and Kakaire’s time. Obua came and shifted the offices to Nakulabye and lobbied for the Goal project that later built the Fufa House. Magogo has expanded it to a very big office and everyone is proud that football has a decent home.

He has also put up a radio and television that is showing matches across which is very good in this era but I want him to work on helping clubs with sponsorship.

We have got sponsorship for the Big League but the Shs10m is not enough because that league is more expensive than even the league. Teams are failing to sustain themselves and need a collective duty. If the federations say that they’re making money, then the impact should be felt across the whole system. What we’re seeing is Fufa House full of cars for employees. We need to see some of the resources in the regional leagues as well. For example, equipment.

Who was the best among them?

Obua was the best. I have not worked with Magogo directly because the only position he gave me was in the player status committee which I don’t think would really use my experience.

Anything more to the Fufa president?

[Sighs] I wanted to meet him personally to discuss some issues but there are some henchmen who keep on badmouthing me. I wanted to ask him what mistake I made or if I should leave football. But I cannot leave football because I’m here to help this young generation. I pay them my own money on a daily basis. Some clubs in the premier league don’t even pay them what I pay as daily allowances in the regional league.

Maybe, you had political ambitions?

 There was a time when I stood as a delegate for the Fufa Big League but failed. I thought that he was fighting me but I later realized that he was not. I was with [Muhammad] Bazirengede but later came to know that there were internal conflicts between him [Bazirengede] and Mulindwa so that’s why.

I injected more money at Jinja Municipal hippos and came as a direct delegate. I just wanted to show them that I loved the game and had the capacity. Nobody can fight or remove me from football.

What about the presidency?

[Laughs] Yeah, maybe there was that element because very many people in the football circles had respect for me and what I was doing for football.

You know these people did something to the constitution which I wasn’t happy about. The-then president of the Tanzanian federation Leodgar Tenga confused us a lot to change the constitution. We thought the former worked better but needed some improvement.

What changed?

We wanted the delegates to elect their own members of the executive directly. It happens even at Caf and Fifa levels. By this, we would have a more robust executive with different views and would be easier to audit a member individually.

We also thought that some geographical regions are too big to have one delegate for example we needed to split Bugisu/Bukedi from Busoga and then have Buganda North and South because these regions have very many districts. It happened for the Western side where they carved out Kitara from West Nile but Buganda refused saying that ‘Kabaka tebamuteemamu’.

So, what was your plan?

It’s true that I had wanted to stand when Obua was in prison and there was a lot of support. Later these people ring-fenced the positions by adding clauses that you have to be in the executive which itself is an appointment and not elected directly and so many hindrances that are locking very many genuine leaders out.

In your opinion, do you think we should have football leaders doubling as mainstream politicians?

Football and sports benefit when we have leaders that side who have a heart for sports but mixing the two is a bit tricky. You can see what happened between Morocco and Algeria. It is not what we want in sports. It should be a uniting factor. I’m a very staunch supporter of the NRM but I can’t mix the two.

There was a previous situation that involved Express and the government of Idi Amin. What can we pick from there?

The Express issue was a little bit political and most of us were not happy because the team had a lot of followers who were Baganda and majorly supported a particular party which wasn’t a crime. Football should be a uniting factor. We need to use sports to tell the youth that what they need is to earn from the opportunities available. Football is all about creating chances.

What can you say about Cecafa?

I think there’s a big problem that needs to be sorted out. At least we saw how [Nicholas] Musonye tried to push where he could. I try to follow the tournaments, especially those held in Jinja and Uganda but you find the current leaders are busy. They appear in less than four days. We need to get someone who can manage the secretariat well and is vibrant on the ground otherwise the organization is doing badly.

Mulindwa tried to stand for Cecafa's presidency but failed. Do you think Cecafa missed a good leader?

Actually, a great leader. Cecafa would have done an excellent job. I’m proud of him because he has managed to develop football and shown how clubs can do good business in football. I’m happy that he has built a stadium as well.

Final words...

My humble request to the federation is to consider delegates because they’re the ones working tirelessly on the ground.

The delegates are poor because they are wasting a lot of money but instead it’s the employees at Fufa enjoying it. There’s no parking space at Fufa [headquarters] because they’ve bought them good rides but the delegates carrying the burden aren’t getting opportunities to gain something from Fufa.

Faisal Muhammad’s best of all time

Fufa president: Denis Obua (RIP)

Administrator: Edward Luyimbazi Mugalu (SC Villa)

Best XI: Paul Ssali; Eddie Ssemwanga (Maroons), Asher Mukasa (Express), Tom Lwanga (KCC), Naftali Mwaka (Nile); Mike Kiganda (Express), Moses Nsereko (KCC), Frank Lukomwa (Nytil); Polly Ouma (Simba), Elias Wapicho (Nile) and Philip Omondi (KCC).

The best moment: was when Nile won the league in 1980 and then went ahead to beat Al Ahly 2-0 in the 1981 African Cup of Champions