Tomorrow, December 18, Rwanda Basketball Federation (FERWABA) will hold elections for a new executive committee that will run the local hoops governing body for the next four years.

Saturday Sport’s Jejje Muhinde caught up with the current FERWABA secretary-general Richard Mutabazi, who is seeking re-election in a position he has held for the last four years.

He answered questions and laid out his plan for the next four years – in case he’s re-elected – including starting up the first basketball academy in Rwanda.

Until yesterday, Mutabazi was the only candidate for the position.

Excerpts:

As a candidate seeking re-election to the same position you are holding currently, what do you hope to achieve over the next four years that you’ve not been able to accomplish in the current term?

The last four years have been both a success and learning experience. I have learnt a lot in basketball administration at the local and international levels.

We have made a lot of achievements in terms of office management, organisation structure, improving communication with partners, organising local and regional events, etc.

What I hope to do if I am re-elected is to improve the management systems, structure and capacity of the local teams; to strengthen their leadership with simple but efficient tools to run their daily administration work.

Its only by having strong administrations for our teams that we shall be able to leverage the federation office; and by managing our teams in a better way, we improve the quality of our players and coaches.

I will also strive to have a youth league (junior) running alongside the national championship. I am dying to see our league get sponsors in a way that local teams benefit and improve their financial status. I am also looking forward to the establishment of the very first basketball national academy during that period. The national basketball championship lacks a sponsor, and now that you mentioned it, why has it taken so long to address this important issue?

It’s a matter of time and approach. We have taken time to refine our product to make it attractive. That is branding and we have done a great job. Now, negotiations are going on with two potential sponsors.

What needs to be done in the next four years is to build on that, improve the level of competition to attract more fans, continue on the negotiations and bring it to a happy end.

You know, this is like piloting a plane; one might have been flying diligently for thousands of miles, but it is only at landing that passengers would clap for the work the pilot has done. Why is women basketball league failing to pick up?

Women basketball, like many other sports disciplines, is still lagging behind and there are a number of reasons behind that; one of them is our cultural background; previously, women were not supposed to do activities exposing them to public.

Though this mindset is gradually and positively changing, the lack of role models in the field is also hindering the mobilisation of young girls to take up the sport.

Also, a few women are currently involved in the decision-making organs at many club and federation levels, and this has greatly affected them in terms of not being able to push for their interests. Like in other areas, for women to pick up, it requires positive affirmative action.

As far as sports is concerned, no policy has been developed in that regard. Take the example of education; young girls have been motivated to go to school, the same can be done in sports.

Let us encourage and award girls who practice and perform well in sports. What do have to say about FERWABA development youth programme?

We are doing pretty well in youth development and talent detection. However, our work is curtailed by the lack of partners.

For instance, a junior league should be established to provide enough competitions to scouted young talents, but this burden has been left to the clubs whose financial status is already weak.

Do have a specific message that you would like to put out visa-vie the current level of Rwandan basketball and what the future holds?

Rwanda has an abundant basketball talent; it’s a matter of joining hands with different stakeholders and partners, especially in the area of youth development program. The responsibility should not be left only to FERWABA.

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