Africa-Press – Uganda. Several football players that are part of the Kooki Masaza team are still nursing injuries sustained in an attack on their camp that also left their properties destroyed.
While the police say the attackers could be suspected goons that are still at large, a section of the public have linked the Wednesday morning attack to the unresolved tensions between the Kooki Chiefdom and the Mengo establishment.
The team had camped at DATIC in Lwanda Sub County, Rakai District for training as participants in the 2023 Masaza cup when they were attacked.
“Our teams are investigating the attack to find out what happened,” Rakai District Police Commander Justus Tasobya briefly said in an interview with Monitor on Thursday.
Ismail Kassaga, a cook deployed at the camp claimed that the attackers who stormed the training camp at about 5:00am demanded that the players and officials relocate since they were illegally at the ground that belongs to Kooki Chiefdom.
“I remained locked up in my small room but heard what the attackers were saying as they vandalized the property. They demanded that the players relocate to Buganda Kingdom. This is Kooki not Buganda,” he claimed on Thursday.
He also alleged that his vehicle was reportedly vandalized by the apparent goons that smashed the windscreen.
Background
On June 21, the Kooki Prime Minister Idd Kiwanuka held a press conference where he warned that Kooki was officially out of the Masaza Cup and would not field a team.
But the football team representing Kooki County has been training and is scheduled to have a football match on July 1.
Gertrude Ssebugwawo, the Buganda Kingdom coordinator in Kooki County in a brief interview confirmed the attack on the players but said the incident will not prevent the team from participating in the 2023 Masaza Cup.
“Kooki is a county in Buganda and we are fielding a team to participate in the Masaza Cup like any other County in the Kingdom. We are Playing Buddu County on Saturday,” she stressed.
In 2022, the Kooki Chiefdom officials protested participation in the Masaza Cup although a team was fielded by a section of the Buganda Kingdom subjects.
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