Under-23 national soccer coach, Jamhuri Kiwhelu is very angry and says he will step down after the second leg match against their Nigerian counterparts.
The coach’s outburst is a result of the statement made by the Deputy Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Fenella Mukangara in the Parliament recently in relation to Kiwhelu’s post.
The tactless minister told the House that the government was planning to hire a foreign coach to replace the former Simba and national soccer defender.
The minister is tactless because you don’t say what she said against a person who is doing what any coach under the sun is supposed to do, winning!
Kiwhelu is quoted by a section of the local print media to have said that whatever results he will get in Benin City in the return leg, he will resign from the post because the government does not value his efforts.
Interestingly, just when Kiwhelu was airing his complaints against the government, a former Taifa Stars national coach, Dr Mshindo Msolla wrote in his sports column in The Citizen about the same thing, the country’s failure to value contribution made by local coaches in soccer!
In short, Kiwhelu is not alone in saying what he has said. The issue is fast becoming a national problem!
Kiwhelu is damned right and I personally support him to the hilt.
Indeed, how do you work for a people who do not recognize your efforts?
People who have the audacity to blurt out whatever comes into their minds as long as they satisfy the august House!
And as if that is not bad enough, we are told that Kiwhelu has been training the national U-23 soccer team without a proper contract!
One would have expected the ministry responsible for sports to have at least ensured that local coaches were not only well paid, when they are engaged to train national sports teams, but are also given proper contracts.
Surely, the deputy minister for sports owes both Kiwhelu and the nation at large an apology for saying what she said in the august House.
By Attilio Tagalile
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