Hoping that Omedi doesn't do an Anaku will prove terribly difficult

The Kitara FC forward went into the match in a rich vein of form after scoring two in two during club continental engagements. It is evident that Omedi has worked tirelessly and obsessively on his craft. Fear is nowhere to be seen in him, possibly because it does not exist.

The manner in which he set up Muhammad Shaban's winner against Botswana during a 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier in June offered a measure of the confidence that abounds in him. 

While Omedi's almost understated rise carries an exhilarating sense of finally coming of age, it also invites comparisons with Sadat Anaku's curve.

Remember him, the wunderkind who came through KCCA FC's youth ranks before rattling along with terrific energy—and goals to go along with—at senior level?

When he joined the Scottish top flight football league in 2022, following a successful trial with Dundee United, the mind did not at any point boggle at the audacious enormity of his achievement.

If anything, the agreement, and not just by the Dundee United scouting team, was that Anaku did his job and by all accounts he did it relatively well. 

The work the forward always did while on the pitch was both prodigious and intensely imaginative. Yet the length of the contract he was handed—two years—made some eagle-eyed observers reluctantly come to the conclusion that a smidgen of doubt could not be wished away.

The observation could have been triggered by the fact that Dundee United's backroom staff opined that this explosive forward who held many Ugandans spellbound was in fact “very raw.”

So rough around the edges was the Ugandan that, Dundee United's backroom staff thundered on, he had no idea how to best utilise his undeniable asset—pace to burn.

To compound matters, an Achilles injury meant that Anaku struggled to assert himself in meaningful ways heading into the final year of his contract. As such, power evaporated with each day he served in Dundee.

Few eyebrows, if any, were raised when the 23-year-old forward was cut loose at the end of the 2023/2024 season. The retreating horizon of his success continued this year when a trial with Port Vale, a club that plies its trade in the fourth tier of English club football, went sideways. 

Consequently, a sentiment that is difficult to fault is that Ugandan football abounds with many Anakus. Heck, Omedi could even be one of them! The conveyor belt of our club football system will, unfortunately, continue rolling out such, to borrow the description of Dundee United's backroom staff, very raw prospects.

While such goings-on make a powerful argument for fully overhauling the system, our football administrators have proved boneheaded on this point. This has not been without consequences. 

This past week, KCCA FC unveiled a new forward. No, it was not Anaku (but could have well been!). The new signing nevertheless encapsulates the travails of the former Dundee United forward.

By now, we all know that Derrick Nsibambi has returned to Lugogo for a second bite at the cherry. When he left KCCA FC in 2018, the paid ranks of Egypt were not necessarily expected to be a Herculean task.

Yet that is exactly what they turned out to be. A return of half a dozen goals across 59 league appearances told its own story—Nsibambi was as raw as they come.

This malaise that ensures no shortage of misfits in the paid ranks is rarely discussed and poorly understood despite its potentially devastating effects.

When Yunus Ssentamu's professional football dream seethes below the surface of our wished-for way of progression, we should not cease asking ourselves how and why questions.

We should not just stop at asking the aforementioned questions, but also move to question the answers. 

One thing that is clear is that Ugandan football is not where it ought to be. Rather than deny this stone cold fact, responsible authorities should be alive to its implications. If it needs to be spelled out, there is work to be done.
 
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