Wakabi, Tamiti take the mantle at Hippos on Soggy memorial

Buffaloes beat Jinja Hippos 16-15 in the annual Robert ‘Soggy’ Seguya cup but the mood at Jinja was of a fan base full of hope as they ushered in new leadership.

Club founder and now trustee Jonan Manzi handed over the mantle to fresh blood Joshua Wakabi and Joab Tamiti in a well-attended annual general meeting on Saturday at the club’s base at Dam Waters.

Wakabi and Tamiti who have been trustees of the fans club committee were elevated to the big responsibility for chairman and deputy as the fans and players alike acknowledged their contributions by electing them unopposed.

“This is a big milestone to the Jinja Hippos family because after achieving great strides on the pitch, we’ve scored big in governance,” an elated Manzi told Daily Monitor after the elections.

“We’re handing over a very healthy club to the new team but the outgoing team are always available for any guidance if they need,” he added.

Three-point programme

Wakabi, one of the pillars of the famed Jinja Fun Rugby, based his campaign on three agendas: strategic partnerships, player welfare and infrastructure development.

“My vision is to make Hippos the number one club in the country. We have to strengthen our structures and ensure that we recruit more local fans,” Wakabi said.

In the elections overseen by Uganda Rugby Union’s vice president (technical) Butiime, Andrew Odhiambo floored David Waako for the club captaincy as another new blood Billy Waiswa trumped Steven Mutaduba for the club secretary position. William ‘Serikali’ Mwijuka, the previous secretary chose not to stand for any position.

Aziz Bagalana and last year’s Uganda Cup most valuable player Tina Akello were the players’ chosen representatives at the executive committee while administrator Joseph Etelu was elected unopposed for the Head of Commercial. 

Tim Groover is the only member of the old executive that returned as he maintains his post for the technical director.

Jinja Hippos Excom 

Chairperson:Joshua Wakabi

Vice-chairperson: Joab Tamiti

Club captain:  Andrew Odhiambo

Secretary: Billy Waiswa

Players’ representative (male): Aziz Bagalana

Players’ representative (female): Tina Akello

Head of Commercial: Joseph Etelu

Technical director: Tim Groover