Ugandan soldier highest earner in Kenyan football

• Compare to Wayne Rooney’s Sh26 million a week to Mudde’s Sh86,000 a month and you will know the pocket gulf between players in Kenya Premier League and Europe

He is a soldier in Uganda, cleared by President Yoweri Museveni to play in Kenya, and now he’s the best paid footballer in the Kenyan Premier League.

One thousand dollars (Sh83,000) per month may be peanuts compared to what players in the English Premier League earn, but Musa Mudde is happy with what he is getting, although that still leaves out winning bonuses and training allowances.

Compare that to Wayne Rooney’s Sh26 million a week and you will know the pocket gulf between players in Kenya and Europe.

But Mudde, the combative Sofapaka Football Club midfelder, is happy to be on top of the earning list in Kenyan football.

While in Kenya, soldier footballers are not allowed to play professionally away from their military sides, Mudde is not only playing professionally, but also outside his country.

Mudde, who once played for Uganda military side, Simba FC, came to Kenya two years ago and has emerged one of the best talents in the KPL.

According to Mudde, to be allowed to play in Kenya, the Ugandan government had to sanction his transfer.

“Mine was not an ordinary transfer. Yes, I was taken to the military to play football, but I’m a soldier and when required by my country, football is secondary,” he said.

“When a team comes for me abroad like Sofapaka did, the military allows me to go,” said Mudde.

To recruit him, Sofapaka had to hold numerous meetings with top military officials in Uganda. Then the government, including President Yoweri Museveni, who is the Commander-in-Chief, had to sanction Mudde’s move.

“It took a lot of negotiations. Signing a player from a military side is not like signing any other player. The Uganda government had to be convinced the interests of the player and his welfare was going to be well taken care of,” says Sofapaka president Elly Kalekwa.

“I made several trips to Kampala to meet the player in the presence of top military chiefs who run the Simba FC. They have to get every detail right, where he is going to stay, with who and how much we will be paying him,” adds Kalekwa.

Mudde is happy to be playing in Kenya whose league he says is one of the best in Africa.

“I am proud to be one of the best earners in the league. It gives me more impetus to continue working hard.”

In Uganda, he says, he was recruited from school by Simba FC to play football.

“Yes, I’m a soldier, but I went there to play football. The team is semi-autonomous, but it is run by the military.

“Ours is to play football not to hold guns or go for military training every morning. But I’m sure the fact that we are soldiers, when it comes to matters of protecting the country, everybody is a soldier even non-recruits.

“It makes me feel I have two hats — that of a footballer and that of a soldier,” say the Uganda international footballer.