ONC’s Hajjat Namyalo Rewards Youth With Bulls, Cash At Kasawo Easter Football Tournament

By Gad Masereka

A football tournament in Mukono District on Easter Monday became the latest front in the Office of the National Chairman’s campaign to engage Uganda’s youth at community level, with Senior Presidential Advisor Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye using the occasion to deliver both prizes and a pointed message about talent, discipline, and national development.

Hajjat Namyalo presided over the Friends of Sheikh Mafo Easter Monday Football Tournament at Kasawo Playground in Kasawo Sub-county, Nakifuma County, where four local clubs competed before large crowds drawn by competitive football and the promise of unusually generous incentives.

The prize structure alone distinguished this tournament from typical community events. Namyalo offered 100 US dollars per goal scored, a move that immediately sharpened the competitive edge of every match and drew wide attention on the day. Winners also received bulls, gold medals, and cash rewards, while runners-up went home with silver trophies and livestock.

Kasawo FC defeated Ndese FC in the first match to claim top honours. Nagalama FC then outlasted Sheikh Shafic Mafo FC in a penalty shootout to take the second prize.

The tournament’s most unexpected highlight came when musician Gravity Omutujju took to the pitch as a player for Mafo FC, drawing loud approval from spectators and injecting celebrity energy into what was already a charged afternoon.

Namyalo used her address to frame the event within a broader policy context, arguing that sports-based interventions at grassroots level directly advance the government’s agenda of reducing youth unemployment and crime. “Talent development has become a real source of income for Uganda’s young people,” she said, citing President Yoweri Museveni’s longstanding emphasis on empowering the next generation through opportunity and skills.

Chief organiser Sheikh Mafo reinforced that message with evidence drawn from his own work. Several players he has mentored through local football now compete for top clubs in Uganda, transforming community talent into professional careers. He pointed to national stability as the underlying condition that makes such progress possible.

ONC’s pattern of deploying high-profile figures to community events is deliberate. By anchoring celebrations such as Easter Monday in tangible empowerment activities, the office maintains visibility and relevance at the ward and sub-county level where political trust is built and sustained. The Kasawo tournament offered a template that is both replicable and effective.