The 2013 Kagame Cup will go down in history as the most low profile Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) annual club competition in many years thanks to a number of factors. For the first time in many years, there are no club representatives from original member countries Kenya and Tanzania plus Ethiopia while big clubs from hosts Sudan; El Merrick and Al Hilal to be precious decided not to participate in the tournament.
The reasons for the absence of these clubs vary but the main one fronted by most has been insecurity of the host region.
Defending Champions Yanga FC and runners up Simba SC (both from Tanzania) opted out of the competition on advice of the government for safety reasons as Darfur and Kholdofan the host towns have in the past wore the tag of war ravaged regions.
The same reasons were advanced by Kenya Champions Tusker FC and backed by their FA, they also withdrew.
Interestingly, this didn’t bother CECAFA General Secretary Nicholas Musonye who insisted that whether the clubs withdrew or not, the tournament will go on and promised to punish them even without attending to their complainants.
“We can’t force clubs to participate. It is the region that is losing. We have a sponsor on board yet they have opted out. Sudan has also offered adequate security but the clubs don’t want to hear any of this. I am deeply frustrated,” said Musonye.
To ensure that the tourney goes on, Musonye invited clubs who were willing to take part including Uganda’s URA FC which accepted the invitation thus may labelling the competition whose participation is based on merit an ‘invitational tournament’
Of course he had to be frustrated but the question arises, did the members agree on the host region before the decision was made?
“The decision to host the regional club tournament in Darfur was not agreed by members because the region is in the security radar all over the world”, says Kenya FA Chairman Francis Nyamweya.
“It would be very unwise for the country to risk taking a team to Darfur and yet it is known world over that Darfur is a very dangerous place. As the Federation president, I cannot be very reckless to risk the lives of players, because if anything happens we will have no answers”, he adds
“Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye would be very insensitive not to realize that there is a big problem by taking the tournament to Darfur after the withdrawal of teams from three key members, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia”.
Nyamweya further accuses Musonye of acting as if he owns the association and called for consultations between the member states and the association whenever there is an issue.
“The leadership of Cecafa should be respected and consulted. Musonye should know that he does not own Cecafa and Cecafa belongs to member countries. He is just an employee and should always seek approval from all members before doing some things, because Cecafa and its members are there to stay, but Musonye will leave”, Nyamweya adds.
Renowned Sports journalist John Vianney Nsimbe of The Observer Media Ltd concurs with Nyamweya and believes this the worst ever Cecafa Club competition in history.
“I don’t recall this competition without clubs from Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania”, he said.
“In my opinion, it’s the worst ever organized competition by the body in an area risky security wise as it is”, Vianney adds.
It should be noted that a day after the opening of the event, AFP reported shells hitting the area with the main stadium as the target. Thankfully, no participant in the tournament was reportedly hurt.
Meanwhile, even broadcast sponsors Supersport have not covered the event and inside information indicates security fears deterred them from going to Darfur.
It’s high time Musonye realized that Cecafa is bigger than him and stopped governing it like his home.