Cruel hand of death dashes Musoke Afcon trip, dreams

The ever-smiling Esther Musoke, who succumbed to a brief illness on January 4, emerged as one of the recognisable faces in sports marketing after carving a path in one of the bastions of male dominance—sports administration. 

Marketing and drawing partnerships in football was what Musoke relished and lived to improve on a daily basis. Yet behind that aggressive spirit lay an introvert not ready to reveal much of her private life. 

Indeed when Musoke died aged just 40, few knew she had been bedridden for over two weeks. In fact, many at the Fufa Complex in Mengo expected her to be on the plane to Ivory Coast for this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament. She had been designated to act as a marketing official. 

Leila Nankya, the Fufa events manager, who shared an office with Musoke for about four years and is now in Abidjan to work on the Afcon guest management and protocol, remembers a hardworking colleague who wanted to gain much from the continental showpiece.

“Esther was on the Afcon tournament marketing list. She was so humbled by God’s blessing for being invited to work with [African football governing body] Caf, first at Afcon in Cameroon then in Morocco [for the women’s Afcon tourney],” Ms Nankya told Saturday Monitor.

“Esther was happy and looking forward to growing her career. She was passionate about her duties and especially the sponsorships she would bring on board […] she would take it upon herself to maintain strong relationships with those sponsors,” she added.

A loner
An employee at the Fufa Complex, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described Musoke as someone who chose who to open up to. She would, the employee added, rarely engage in open debates. 

“If she liked your character, Esther would throw jokes after jokes and would even offer you financial aid. But those were just a handful of employees at Fufa. Regardless, she will be dearly missed,” the Fufa employee further disclosed.

Musoke lost her father at five years and reportedly endured a chaotic life growing up before making it to the top. At the time of her death, Musoke—who is survived by a 15-year-old daughter—was the chief commercial officer of Uganda’s top flight football league. She had only assumed the job last October. Before that, she had hit the ground running at Fufa.

“Esther served as the Fufa marketing director between 2014 and 2022.  She played a key role in growing the brand value of Fufa hence attracting several sponsors and partners,” Fufa president Moses Magogo eulogised the free-spirited Musoke, adding, “I gave Esther the job when we were trying to restructure Fufa and started recruiting professionals. All those sponsorships we got at the time, she was the lady working behind the curtains. She has indeed served football.”

Some reports indicate Musoke struggled to find her footing when she left football service. It is said that she almost went off the radar until the beautiful game offered her another bite at the cherry with the Uganda Premier League (UPL).

Arinaitwe Rugyendo, the UPL board chairperson, disclosed that Musoke, who was confirmed in the position halfway through her six-month probation period, “brought a vibrant energy that ignited a spark of hope in the hearts of all who encountered her” at the UPL secretariat.

“She immersed herself in the design and implementation of our commercial strategy, leaving behind a trail of promising clients in the pipeline,” he revealed.

Discreet in death
A neighbour at her rented apartment in Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb, who preferred anonymity, revealed that Musoke lived a forlorn life away from football’s bright lights. The fallen UPL official shared her abode with her teenage daughter, Marian Nabatanzi, who she loved dearly.

An indoor person, Musoke never at any time enjoyed the company of her wider family. That was reflected in her demise when it was communicated that after the funeral service at St Andrew’s Church in Bukoto last Saturday, a vigil in Seeta Busukuma would precede a secret cremation.

The cremation proposal, which left many in shock, was reportedly overruled by Musoke’s sister, who works with the United Nations in the United States. Close associates of Musoke told Monitor that she felt rejected by those she thought were her own during her final days. She reportedly wanted a burial that would rub her off the scene entirely—a cremation. 

Musoke was instead interred at Nkokonjeru on Monday next to her late dad on the piece of land she reportedly bought in tandem with her sister. This was after a family wrangle forced them to relocate the remains of their father.

Musoke had planned to finish furnishing her palatial home in Busukuma with proceeds from this weekend’s Afcon finals. She had planned to relocate from Kisaasi before the end of next month.

Some of the mourners in Nkokonjeru insinuated that Esther suffered a minor accident that she kept to herself, but gradually triggered a blood clot that caused the acute headache that afflicted her immediately after celebrating Christmas. While some hazarded a guess that Musoke succumbed to meningitis, the absence of a formal post-mortem report leaves everything on a cornerstone of conjecture.  

Musoke will ultimately be remembered as a hard-working woman, female football voice and face whose love to leave a lasting trail was evident in all she did.