Since the start of the season, one of the major questions has been “What befell the mighty Kongolo?”
In an exclusive interview with Radio Pacis, Ojobile Makosa opened up about the storm that hit Arua Hill SC.
Glued on the bottom of the log with only five points gathered from 13 matches, Arua Hill finds itself in a place of self of disbelief and sorrow due to the rot eating up the club.
A club that had its chairperson Joel Aita joke about buying English Premier League side Chelsea is now struggling to assemble a full lineup to honour the league fixture.
The latest blow suffered was the humiliating 7-1 loss to recently promoted side Kitara FC at Masindi Stadium.
Signs were there but ignored
Makosa revealed that there were signs that the club was going off the track but most of them were ignored until they found themselves in the ditch.
“The fact is that football doesn’t lie. There are some things you do in hiding but some day they finally come out. There were signs that proved that some things were not going well but most of us ignored them,” he said.
“Since last season, Arua Hill has been struggling just that the club had committed players that would always turn up and fight for the club. We all know football is all about motivation, the moment you do not respect player’s contracts then things can not work,” he added.
“It has been a tough run, before the start of this season we started preparations for the league late due to a number of challenges. Among those was players’ registration while most of the senior players at the club had left.”
Lack of transparency
While players endured the financial challenges they were also trusted due to the lack of transparency from the club’s supremos. Makosa highlighted that it has been mostly lies from the club’s administration rather than truths.
“To be honest there are football mafias in West Nile. Very greedy people that mind about themselves and not the game or players. These same people are behind the confusion between and Onduparaka and Arua Hill.”
“There was no transparency at all. Most of what they told us were lies than truth. Instead of telling us that the team has run out of resources they instead promised that we would get money ‘next’ week which hardly happened.”
“As players, we have responsibilities to handle. As a father, I have to take care of my family. So I play soccer as a job and I expect to earn out of my sweat. But instead, we went five to six months without pay.”
Why Makosa gave up and left
Makosa left the club’s camp after the 1-0 loss to BUL and he says he did so because his contract was not respected yet he demanded the club a lot of money.
“My contract was not respected. I was supposed to leave after last season but Mbabazi (Charles Livingstone) asked me to remain. He has ever helped me so I also decided to back him up. He had given me hope that things would get better but instead, it worsened.”
Way forward
Makosa advised that the club’s management should do all it takes to see that the club plays its second-round home games in Arua because that is home.
He added that if the club comes back to Arua he will play again because he can be able to train in the morning and then hustle thereafter to put something in the pocket.
In a nutshell, he called upon all West Nilers to join hands and save Arua Hill because it has boosted their area and also provided jobs to the native talents.
Arua Hill returns to action on Wednesday, January 3 as they host Express FC at Paridi Stadium in Adjumani.
