Fimbo: Uganda’s goal-scoring gem derailed by mental illness

“I first saw him in 1990 around Martin Road [Kampala]. He was about 11 years. He had a group of friends he used to play with. Whereas others had shoes, Mukasa always played barefooted. They were playing Kaayi (playing football with a ball made of banana fibre). He was the tiniest of all but the most talented,” Kirumira recalls.

In 1994, Mukasa joined Baggery FC, a second division side, and his goals eased the club’s promotion to the First Division. “I kept monitoring him and in 1995, I convinced him to start training with Puma, the club I was coaching.

“At that age, he couldn’t play for Puma. But I wanted him closer because I had seen his potential. After joining us, Mukasa got very serious with his football. While we could report for training at 5pm, Mukasa would be there at 3pm playing with his friends,” Kirumira recounts.

During Puma’s training sessions, one trait became characteristic of Mukasa’s career: his dislike for physicals. Instead, he used to ask for the ball to juggle around while the rest struggled with the physicals. Kirumira says he used to exempt Mukasa because he was young, short and skinny.

In mid-1995, Puma offered Mukasa a licence. But still, he was only a trainee. He later started to play, but sparingly. He also got his first pair of boots. A few months on, he started playing regularly and scored a few goals for Puma.

From boy to man

However, Kirumira says, Mukasa’s big break came in late 1995 where he grew into a “man”. “That year, we were all astonished by how Mukasa’s body started to change. He suddenly grew taller. He also got some muscle and his shoe size shot up from six to nine. His game took the same stride. That season, he scored 18 goals.”.

In 1996, he ended the season with 36 goals which earned him the nickname ‘Fimbo’ (canning rod), a derivative from the way he tore defences for goal. KCC FC came calling and soon, Mukasa started training with them.

“Mutebi [Mike] wanted to sign him. He requested us to let him train with them. He would train with KCC but play for us,” Kirumira remembers.
That season, Mukasa’s stock skyrocketed. He was selected for the national U-18 team that played in the 1998 Coca-Cola East and Central African Junior Championships in Ethiopia. It was unusual for a player in the lower league to don national colours.

“Paul Ssali was the coach. I told him about Mukasa and he asked me to take him to the team’s training at Lugogo. On reaching there, everyone, including the players, started laughing at him, calling him a ball boy.

“Three days into training, Ssali was impressed. He told me he was going to drop some ‘senior’ players to accommodate Mukasa,” Kirumira adds. Eventually, Baker Mbowa and Livingstone Mbabazi, both playing in the top-tier, were dropped.

Mukasa was the striker Ssali had always longed for. “He had everything; first touch, vision and above all, an eye for goal. He had a big foot, which is an advantage in shooting.”

Mukasa did not disappoint, becoming Uganda’s best player at the tournament, scoring three goals as Uganda reached the finals.

KCC’s loss, Villa’s gain
When KCC delayed to snap up the red-hot striker, SC Villa pounced. During the 1997 season, Puma faced Kiwi FC in their last match of the season at Nakivubo, where Mukasa scored three goals in the 5-1 victory.

As luck would have it, Hajj Omar Mandela, the then Villa treasurer, was in attendance. Kirumira says: “Mandela approached me and said they wanted him. He suggested meeting us a day after. I went with Mukasa. Mandela asked Mukasa to name his price and he asked for Shs300,000. Mandela gave Mukasa the money and paid Puma Shs700,000. Mukasa reported to Villa Park the following day and the rest is history.”

Stellar career at Villa
Mukasa did not have the best of beginnings at Villa. Despite Coach Paul Hasule (Rip) believing in his ability, he found it hard to quickly throw him into the fray. Hasule preferred the more experienced Charles Kayemba (Rip) and an emerging Hassan Mubiru. However, Mukasa’s goal scoring abilities during training sessions could not be ignored and soon, Kayemba was dropped.
That gave birth to the Mu-Mu combination of Mukasa and Mubiru which ruled Ugandan football for long, winning trophies with abandon.
Today, Mukasa is mostly known for the 45 league goals he scored in 1999 en route to being voted Uganda’s footballer of the year.

At the beginning of the season, he had bragged that he would finish the season top of the scoring charts. Jimmy Kirunda’s record of 32 goals had been unrivalled since 1978 but Mukasa smashed it in devastating fashion.

It should have been 49 goals but Idudi FC, against which Mukasa had scored four, withdrew from the league. He defended his gong with 27 goals the following season.

Trouble beckons
Mukasa’s form earned him a place in the national U-23 side, The Kobs. He helped the team qualify for the 1999 All-Africa Games in Johannesburg by scoring away goals against Eritrea and Zambia, sealing Kobs’ qualification.

Andy Lule, the Kobs Captain, believes this tournament shed light on Mukasa’s mental illness which would later ruin his career.

During the semi-final game against Cameroon, Jamil Kyambadde beat the Cameroonians and passed to Mukasa, who had the goal at his mercy, with the goalkeeper beaten.

“Mukasa just stood on the ball and refused to score. We all shouted at him and he just stared at us,” Lule says. Uganda lost 1-0.

“At halftime, when we rebuked him, he told us: ‘it’s because of my goals that you are here. So it’s up to me to score or not’”.

During a game against Nile FC in 2001, Mukasa is said to have refused to pass the ball to Mubiru, who was in a better position to score. He alleged that Mubiru was bewitching him. Villa lost 1-0.

In 2000, Mukasa was named Uganda Cranes captain but had become injury-prone and his mental faculties had started giving way. In 2002, he is said to have refused to enter Cranes camp, demanding that Fufa clears his friend from the streets to stay with him.

The same year, Mukasa became the talk of town when he quit Villa for arch-rivals Express. According to Lule, Mukasa had always blamed Express for bewitching him. So he decided to join them and win them over. Mubiru had joined the Red Eagles prior, and there was hope for a resurrection of the Mu-Mu combination. However, that did not happen.

Mental illness

By 2000, Mukasa’s illness had become evident. He had started escaping from home and living on the streets. A tale is told of how he went to Turkey for professional trials and on return; he started throwing money to street children.

“He also threw money at some players in camp, alleging that they were bewitching him. He was doing it as a show of might, that their witchcraft couldn’t stop him from achieving,” adds Lule.

Abubaker Tabula, his former Villa teammate, paints a somewhat scary picture: “Sometimes, he used to come with blood on his body. We would ask him about it but he would reply that all he cares about is scoring goals, which he was doing.

“At Villa, there is a way all of us understood him and treated him accordingly. This was lacking at Express and his condition got worse,” says Tabula.

Two factors have always been fronted in trying to unmask the cause of Mukasa’s mental woes: drugs and sorcery, with the latter believed to stem from his own family.

Grace Nandawula, Mukasa’s mother, refutes this: “I believe Mukasa’s friends ruined him with drugs. Wakaliga is a tough place to raise a child. Remember, he had a gang of friends who used to hang around him because he had money to buy them drugs. Eventually he also learnt to use drugs.

“But still, you can’t entirely rule out witchcraft. Some people might have envied his talent and bewitched him,” she concludes.
For more than 10 years, Mukasa has been hopping between mental facilities and churches.

Dr David Basangwa, the Executive Director Butabika hospital, dismisses witchery.
“For every case we handle, we have always been sure of finding a biological cause, and witchcraft is not. So, the use of drugs could be the cause,” he says.

Dream still alive?
In 2011, the nation held its breath when Mukasa announced a comeback with URA FC. According to Geoffrey Kyondo, a URA official, they offered Mukasa a two-year contract on compassionate grounds. They also built him a one-bedroom house and hired specialists to look after him. During training, Mukasa was back scoring goals easily and coach Alex Isabirye offered him a licence.
He only featured in a handful of games and Isabirye left at the end of the season. Mukasa’s comeback got lost along the way.

Kyondo believes that Mukasa’s problem lies at Wakaliga. “For him to get fine, he should leave that place. During his time at URA, he would still go back to Wakaliga and take drugs. In the end, it was a journey of one step forward and two back, so the project stalled.”

Currently, Mukasa is at Wakaliga. His family struggles to look after him. Sometimes, they cannot afford to put a meal on the table for him.

“He is weak and needs to drink a lot of fluids. But we don’t have the money. The last time we went to Butabika, the doctors were impressed with his progress. Hopefully he can return and play football,” says Nandawula.

Echoing his mother’s statements, Mukasa’s eyes almost popped out and he declared: “Yes, I will come back. I made a name as the best striker in Uganda. No one can score 45 goals except me. Uganda Cranes needs strikers like me. At the end of this season, I will start training and rejoin Villa, then Uganda Cranes.

“If I don’t fall sick again, I think I will still play for Villa and score goals. Then maybe after three years, I can retire from football altogether after setting other records,” says Mukasa.

Indeed, Mukasa’s name will forever be etched in Uganda’s football history. And so will the mystery that he himself is.

Mukasa’s achievements:
4 League titles, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 (SC Villa)
2 Uganda Cups 1998, 2000 (SC Villa)
League Top scorer 1999, 2000 (SC Villa)
2 East African Hedex Cups (SC Villa and Express)
Ugandan Footballer of the Year (1999).

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