Strange but true. Less than three months before we host the first continental football championship ever to be staged not only in Rwanda but the entire East African region, preparations are on a snail pace. If this is not worrying, then what is it?

Yes, I said we because all Rwandans as well as well-wishers are in this together, in good times and bad ones. We should either succeed or fail together. A successful tournament is pride for all of us, not specific individuals and vice versa.

This event is for all Rwandans and ideally it’d be upon every responsible Rwandan to contribute to its success in whatever way possible given a chance, but the local organizing committee (CONCAN), which comprises handful individuals doesn’t see things from a similar angle.

As Kigali gets ready to host the African U-20 Youth Championship scheduled to run between January 18 and February 1 2009, it’s so embarrassing to find that not very many Rwandans on the street have even a vague idea about it!

It’s a shame that the people don’t even know that their country is about to host the biggest sporting event ever in the country’s history, yet the local organizing committee is not doing anything to improve the situation.

For such big events to be a success there is without a doubt, need for division of labour.

Unfortunately my gut-feeling tells me that the people on CONCAN (with full respect to the work they’ve done so far), have never thought of how far things would be if only there was practical division of labour in this whole preparation process.

Just for records, division of labour is the specialization of cooperative labour in specific, confined tasks and roles, intended to increase the productivity of labour.

And going by history, the growth of a more complex division of labour is closely associated with the growth of total output.

The productivity gains of division of labor are important within any type of production process but in this case we’re talking about preparation process for a major sporting event out which everyone concerned expects an end result, which from where I’m seated is success.

Specialization with experts allocated to a particular assignment, frees those in charge to focus on tasks that they are best at and also more repetitions lead to learning faster ways to perform the task, causing more efficient in terms of time.

Yet, this is one simple logical thing that the people of CONCAN have failed to realize.

They’ve instead opted to leave such a demanding challenge to the shoulders of a few individuals most of whom am sorry to say this but don’t have the minimum expertise in dealing with putting together a major international event.

With exactly two and half months before seven of Africa’s top footballing nations descend on Kigali, the most essential requirements like stadiums, training fields but most importantly publicity, are nowhere near being deemed ready something that I solely attribute to the local organizing committee’s unwillingness to share work, particularly with experts in organizing successful event.

Cricket not a priority indeed
Never fool around with someone with and or in power. At least local cricketers can testify to that after the ministry of sports, without prior warning discontinued them from using the ground they’ve been using since 2002 because it (ground) is being turned into a football field.

Now, without an alternative, the game of cricket could be history in our country if nobody comes to its rescue sooner rather than later. Heard of extermination?

After the sports ministry, who else is willing to let Rwandan Cricket get to such a disturbing state of affairs? Not many, I guess.

According to simple knowledge, the sports ministry is responsible for establishing and implementing systemic policies and strategic plans for sport and physical activity in a given country, regardless of the nature of a particular sport.

In Rwanda, just like anywhere else in the world, the ministry has a list of sports disciplines that they deem a priority in its budget allocation or consideration and cricket isn’t one of them, according to sports Minister Joseph Habineza.

It all started in 2004 when the cricket’s local governing body approached the ministry, requesting for a few thousand dollars (participation fee) to enable the national team take part in ICC division three world cup qualifying tournament in South Africa and the response they got was, "cricket is not our priority,” and they did not get even a single coin!

Four years on, the good minister is at it again but this time evacuating the poor cricketers from the ground they’ve been using for the last six years!

Cricket was fast becoming a popular sport especially in schools despite the lack of support from the powers above and the national team reached the semifinals of the ICC world qualifying tournament in Johannesburg in April

However, like I said earlier, if nobody comes to the rescue of the gentleman’s game, all those achievements could end up in trash bin. Way to go Mr. Minister.

Contact: nku78@yahoo.com