Eng. Misagga maintains stance in bold fight for Sports Club Villa’s soul

The football family will boldly attest that every time Sports Club Villa sneezes, the rest of the entities in the country catch a cold.

This stems from the legacy and impact the Jogoos who were founded in 1975 has impacted on the country’s football with arguably the biggest and most vibrant fan base.

With 17 record Uganda Premier League trophies, 9 Uganda Cup titles and 3 CECAFA inter-clubs cups, the Jogoos indeed set a precedent with successful trophy cabinet.

The on-going club elections to have a new president in place have been the order of the day and talk across the different media platforms and general football spaces.

Incumbent Hajji Omar Ahmed Hussein (Mandela) is poised to return his seat for the next five years after being the only candidate among the five who picked forms to return them.

Amid the tough conditions which included a Ug.Shs 100M nomination fee (non-refundable), this has left a bitter taste in the mouth for many.

Eng. Immanuel Ben Misagga and Hajji Farouq Meywa jointly addressed the media at Royal Suites Bugolobi – Kampala about the “ill” trend of governance inside the club coffers with questions about governance, accountability stemming from the compensation fee from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) of Ug.Shs 3.2 billion.

Hajji Meywa highlighted about exploitation of all judicial processes to have justice brought to book through Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), National Council of Sports (NCS) and lawyers.

Here is Eng. Misagga’s speech (verbatim):

For years, I have watched in silence as a few individuals reduced this great institution, SC Villa, to their personal cash cow. The clique is led by none other than Omar Ahmed Mandela, the purported club president.

They have rigged the electoral process with a Shs 100 million nomination fee, changed our crest to erase history, and our Shs 3.4 billion has vanished into accounts that no fan can access. So, I cannot keep quiet.

Yesterday, the clique announced itself as the new administration. Let me be clear: I am not offering myself for the club presidency. If I wanted to stand, the money is not the issue. The issue is principle.

How can President Museveni allow Ugandans to contest against him for just Shs 20 million, yet the self-appointed caretakers of Villa demand five times that amount? This is not about leadership. This is a deliberate move to lock out competition and maintain what I call the “big-man syndrome,” the greed of owning this club like a personal estate.

I have been here before. In 2004, as club fans coordinator, I took a young, rejected Villa squad to Tanzania and won the Cecafa Club title. In 2014, I returned from Zambia to find this club on its knees, revived it, cleared its debts four years in advance and restored its vibrancy. In 2018, I handed it over to FUFA with audited books and zero liabilities. I secured the land title for Lukuli. I brought back the fans. I made Villa a national brand again.

And what happened? The same old faces resurfaced the moment there was money to grab.

Today, our Shs 3.4 billion is said to be sitting in some fixed deposit account while our fans struggle.

So, enough is enough.

My fight is simple: I want the club statutes ratified by FUFA reinstated. I want a corporate governance structure where every fan, regardless of their background or education, has a say.

Mandela and his group can keep calling themselves whatever they want.

But they cannot erase what I built. And they cannot silence me when I speak for the thousands of fans who have no voice in the room where decisions are made.

This is not about Misagga; it is about rescuing SC Villa from the grave these people are digging for it.

Immanuel Ben Misagga
SC Villa President Emeritus

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