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| Amri Kiemba, Kigoma 'Diaspora' and Talent Export |
Kigoma region has not had a club a premier league club for
close to 11 years. Mbanga was the last club from the region to grace the
Tanzania Premier league way back in 2002. Mbanga enjoyed premier league status
for a single season before relegation came calling. It seems they had it so
rough in their debut season that they have never been heard of again after relegation.
In the past, Kigoma Railways used to be a tough nut to crack
in the premier league but as soon as Public corporation pulled away from
investing in sports, the financial and football fortunes of the club took a sharp knock
never to recover again. Many Kigoma football well-wishers tried to revive it but
it was too late too little. Kigoma cannot be blamed for the extinction of that club;
similar stories of extinction of public corporation-funded clubs are replicated
in other regions. It was a state policy failure that never put up a mechanism
or laid grounds for the continuation of public corporation owned-clubs once the
government shied away. Simply put, the government hurriedly pulled off from
these clubs.
Though nearly all clubs never recovered from the government
decision to cut back on funding sports team, other regions seems to have moved on after
the emergence of other community or private sponsored clubs. Unfortunately
Kigoma seems never to have recovered having failed to promote a premier league
club for over a decade. The irony is not lost on football followers and
stakeholders that Kigoma despite its premier league doldrums has maintained a
steady supply of talent to the national teams as well as the top clubs in the
league.
If we break down players’ origin composition of Simba, Yanga
and Taifa Stars, an impressive percentage has their roots in Kigoma. If one
attempts compiling a list of Tanzania’s past and present football greats,
Kigoma would certainly dominate the list. Many footballers, both past and present
can trace their roots back to Kigoma. They were either born in Kigoma or have
parents who hail from the region. Some have darkly and cynically hinted that
Kigoma steady supply of footballers who make it to the top of the Tanzanian
football pyramid is a result of bordering the obscenely talent-rich Democratic
Republic of Congo.
The empty and unfounded reasoning has resulted in some players
who hail from that region being branded refugees or their citizenship being
questioned. For example, a week before
the Dar Derby in the early 2000’s, Said Maulid ‘SMG’ citizenship was questioned
simply because he hails from Kigoma.
In the history of Tanzania football no Kigoma based club has
ever won the league title or even come close to achieving the status in spite
of the region’s rich history in supplying talented footballers. In terms of
premier league Kigoma remains in the doldrums, clubs from the region are
struggling to make an impression even at the inter-regional level. So what are
the factors behind Kigoma’s football woes? Is Kigoma an exceptional case or a
familiar case of regional football woes seen that are replicated all over the
country? Though it is hard to exhaust
all the reasons, next week I will try to point out the salient reasons that
have caused Kigoma’s football doldrums for many years despite its undoubted
status as the bedrock of Tanzanian football. What should Kigoma do? Can
they attempt another ‘leka dutigite’ of sort to to tap into the rich talent pool in Kigoma?
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