Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa is praised as an unsung hero of Ugandan football who has transformed the sport in the country. As the former president of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), he showed exemplary leadership and helped establish football as a popular sport. He founded St. Mary's Kitende, which has produced many national team stars and won several youth competitions. Even after retiring from FUFA, Dr. Mulindwa continues to support over 200 student athletes through scholarships. He is also credited with developing the city of Kitende through schools and businesses. The author argues Uganda needs more leaders like Dr. Mulindwa who selflessly invest in developing sectors for the common good.
Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa is praised as an unsung hero of Ugandan football who has transformed the sport in the country. As the former president of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), he showed exemplary leadership and helped establish football as a popular sport. He founded St. Mary's Kitende, which has produced many national team stars and won several youth competitions. Even after retiring from FUFA, Dr. Mulindwa continues to support over 200 student athletes through scholarships. He is also credited with developing the city of Kitende through schools and businesses. The author argues Uganda needs more leaders like Dr. Mulindwa who selflessly invest in developing sectors for the common good.
Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa is praised as an unsung hero of Ugandan football who has transformed the sport in the country. As the former president of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), he showed exemplary leadership and helped establish football as a popular sport. He founded St. Mary's Kitende, which has produced many national team stars and won several youth competitions. Even after retiring from FUFA, Dr. Mulindwa continues to support over 200 student athletes through scholarships. He is also credited with developing the city of Kitende through schools and businesses. The author argues Uganda needs more leaders like Dr. Mulindwa who selflessly invest in developing sectors for the common good.
With Afcon underway in Egypt and a new wave of love, unity and patriotism swimming on the Ugandan soil, we might be so quick to forget where the whole story began. When you talk about Uganda’s football history today you cannot do so without talking about Dr Mulindwa unless you have a problem because he has not only shown what a true statesman can be but he has also shown an example of what an effective and transparent leadership can do. He is a candid portrait of a global leader with high intellectual abilities and extra-ordinary capacity and vision, which can be seen through his already established projects and achievements. Infact I am at times surprised about how big an impact one committed man can have on a sector. Dr Mulindwa has been a true reflection of the Chinese adage that it is better to send three lions than a thousand sheep. I was really humbled when President Museveni awarded him a medal at the 54th independence anniversary in recognition of the work he has done in the sector and indeed it is the spirit we have to carry on as Ugandans, We shouldn’t wait when people are no more and then we shower them with ululations of praise of enviable wisdom and greatness as though we were not with them for all their life time. Most recently, his school St Mary’s Kitende won the Copa-Coca-cola with a new spring of young talents which was not an accident ,what can I say? Sometime back we were used to that because Kitende dominated the sports fraternity for more than one and a half decades How many stars have we seen that have been associated with Dr Mulindwa’s developments both in Vipers and Kitende? For instance Farouq Miya, Nicholas Wadada, Kezirone Kizito, Hassan Wasswa, Allan Kyambadde, Kizito Luwagga,Emmanuel Okwi, Tadeo Lwanga, Murushid JJuko and so many others. The St Mary’s stadium indeed has always been and will continue to be the home of Uganda’s talents. Dr Mulindwa even after retiring from FUFA has continued to light the candle towards sports development in this country. An investor who has selflessly devoted enormous resources and given ample time to see to it that football and sports is taken to a higher level. He currently has over 200 sports men and women on bursary at St Mary’s Kitende in a bid to promote sports in the country. Mulindwa also revolutionalisied Uganda’s football and made cranes a brand to watch, navigated Uganda’s football hope into the world of sponsors as in who could imagine a local football club attaining sponsorship to a tune of 700 million Uganda shillings? This and many others is what has driven people to call him a gift that keeps giving. Dr Mulindwa also transformed Kitende from a small bushy area without electricity to a big recognized city and to date if anybody talks about Kitende, one can only get a picture of a big city and trading centre with a vast number of businesses and schools. Shopping malls and so many other developments. He is a true reflection of selflessness because how many people do we see giving away their fortune for the common good? But for us who know and see can appreciate the fruits of his work. Indeed, we should be greatful for such a gesture of good will; Uganda needs more Mulindwas’ in every sector to see to it that we move another level. Gukiina Patrick Musoke [email protected] Founding member Writers Association of Uganda.