This letter is addressed specifically to the person of General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) for the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
A highly respected personality in the national forces and the general society, General Kainerugaba, you take the due flowers as a keen lover of sports.
Unquestionably, sports remain your number one passion and run through your DNA.
As sportsmen, this transcends to the active youth in this country.
It is upon this firm background that I pen this emotional epistle to the General, who is also the first son of the country.
On countless occasions, General Kainerugaba, you have personally supported a number of Uganda sports disciplines ranging from football, boxing, motorsport, basketball, athletics, netball and the like.
Generally, I applaud you for the conducive environment that has enabled tranquillity and peace to live harmoniously in Uganda.
It is this peace that has precipitated the good political environment to live in and be proud of.
The Uganda sports landscape is undergoing exciting times with numerous opportunities for the youth and the population at large.
The country’s sports sub-sector directly and indirectly impacts positively to over 25,000,000 people.
From active sports personalities (players), their immediate working team members as trainers, physiotherapists, psychologists and other sports scientists, personal managers, helpers, coaches, media managers and others, it is a whole packed industry.
General Kainerugaba, a political scientist with a degree from Nottingham University, is well aware of the value of sports in national building.
Back in the days of his elementary education at Kampala Parents through St Mary’s College Kisubi, one of the finest schools on the land, the General was well ushered to the rich heritage of sports in Uganda.
Through his Patriotic League of Uganda, General Kainerugaba aspires to revive Ugandans’ spirit of good citizenship, national pride, national service, protection of vulnerable persons, mitigating corruption and mismanagement of public resources, environmental protection and promotion of talented sports personalities across the board.
A few years ago, General, you traversed the country to preach patriotism, and of course, sports were part and parcel of the rich, crowded programs.
Football, basketball and netball matches, cycling events, and motor rallies were all organised in good faith for talent promotion.
General Kainerugaba, through your goodwill, please the sports subsector needs a lot more fundraising to establish a firm base for affluent state-of-the-art facilities, build more capacity of coaches, officials, umpires, referees and administrators.
The increased funding will also spill down to more establishment of sports nurseries (sports schools and academies) to train more young sportsmen in a bid to ensure continuity.
Whereas Uganda has been able to play at the global stage in Athletics, Netball, Cricket, Rugby, Swimming, Table Tennis, Golf, Lacrosse, Woodball, Basketball, Ludo, Skating and lately Kho Kho, there isa need to earn sporting representation at the World Cup in other events such as football, hockey, tennis, Squash, darts and other sports.
The General is also Pro-development with the recently established MK Fund that is estimated to have a seed fund of Ug. Shs 1 billion is meant to help the youth with development.
This fund is already in the safe hands of Hon. Ruth Aceng and other trusted administrators.
The fund is meant to support young entrepreneurs in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, tourism and ICT.
To this effect, we only have to salute and applaud the General for such deliberate efforts of support.
Finally, your bold effort to empower the UPDF (through the Engineering Brigade) to construct state-of-the-art sports infrastructure is also much appreciated.
Long live.
The writer is David Isabirye; a seasoned sports journalist with Kawowo Sports Media
+256700733461 & +256760510301 (Wats-App)
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