Sex scandals that have rocked local sports

KAMPALA. From a silent and reclusive character, former Uganda Cranes’ net buster Geoffrey Massa has showed his long-concealed other side. Massa is currently saddled with a well-publicized Police case that involved shooting of his mysterious female companion Josephine Maliza, in the wee hours of July 13.
Public opinion has it that Massa was involved in a ‘sexcapade’ that left a police motorcycle, his car – and possibly reputation – damaged on the day.
 This followed reports from Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima, that Massa had scampered from officers that were suspicious of a Prado parked by the roadside in Bweyogerere at an ungodly hour. Massa’s choice to press the accelerator, eventually overrunning their motorcycle did not bode down with the Police, who decided to shoot at the Land Cruiser TX UAY 627B.
 Sections of the media have reported that Maliza and Massa, under the pseudo name, Alex Gonza checked into Gwatiiro Hospital in Kireka after Maliza was injured in the scuffle. While memes of Maliza have dominated social media after she claimed a drunken Massa picked her up and engaged in sex after disguising as a trader from Kikuubo.
 Massa remains reluctant to come out and clear the air over the matter. However, sex scandals are not a novelty in Ugandan sport and here SCORE takes you through some of those that have rocked the nation over the years.

Athletes accuse Wemali
In the aftermath of the 2014 Africa Cross-country Championships held at Kololo Airstrip where Uganda performed below average, several female athletes came out to say national coach Peter Wemali had harassed them sexually and physically.
Then team captain Moses Kipsiro, took it upon himself to bail the girls out of the horrifying ordeal by narrating their plight to this newspaper. Despite the athletes’ cry for justice and several court battles, the case has never been heard conclusively. 
 Kyakutema and Acii’s fights
The Wemali case was not a new kind of controversy in athletics circles. In what is on record, the sexual misgivings in Uganda athletics date at least way back to 1988.  Despite travelling to Seoul, South Korea for the 1998 Olympic Games, Faridah Kyakutema shocked the nation when she refused to compete in the 4X100 relay race.
Having won this relay in the 1988 Africa Athletics Championships in Algeria, a qualification event for that year’s Olympics, Uganda was a medal favorite in Seoul but Kyakutema was in bad mood after a fight with teammate Oliver Ocii.
Sections of the media reported Kyakutema ‘had’ Ocii who retaliated. A fist fight ensued and the two were accused of clashing over a Nigerian man, the night before the race. Kyakutema earned a two-year-ban on returning home hence ending her career. 
Atuhaire’s rape case in Sydney
Sexual controversy at the Olympics continued into the new millennium, this time with the swimmers.  Joel Atuhaire, a Ugandan swimmer at the 2000 Olympic Games made headlines for sexually assaulting a girl in Sydney. The Ugandan swimmer was charged with defiling a 17-year-old girl near the Games Village.
 Atuhaire was meant to serve a term of 14 years in jail if convicted but luckily, the girl put dropped the charges months later. 
Musisi’s defilement case
In 1994, star striker Majid Musisi (RIP) – said to earn $6000 in Rennes, France then – was accused to be bedding his wife’s 16-year-old sister. Because she was underage, Musisi was taken to Police to answer charges of defilement but managed to negotiate his freedom and quickly returned to Rennes.

The She Cranes debacle
Arguably Uganda’s best goalkeeper of all time, Paul Ssali seems to have attracted women’s attention just like he did balls as a goalie.
 In 1998, Crusader’s Kenneth Matovu (RIP) broke a story that stunned many in the local football fraternity when he wrote that She Cranes – then national women’s football team – players were fighting for a man.
 The identity of the man wasn’t clear, but it was certain that he was part of the She Cranes’ backroom staff.  Ssali, the man behind women’s football in the country, was at the centre of those embarrassing stories as he was closest to the girls. An inquest into the scandal was commissioned by the National Council of Sports (NCS).
 The probe recommended that Issa Kyambadde, the ladies team manager then, keeps his distance from the ladies’ team. There are no prizes for guessing why. Though Ssali went scot-free, rumours about him engaging team players sexually at the time have refused to go away. 
Kamyuka’s alleged romp
Instead of leading by example as a newly appointed captain for the U-19 national cricket team ahead of a World Cup qualifier in 2001, Kenneth Kamyuka allegedly ended up in a lodge with a prostitute a few days before Uganda’s first game.
 The incident caused him trouble with Uganda Cricket Association (UCA)’s leadership and subsequently cost him not only his captaincy but also his place on the team. 
Mubiru’s infamous massage
Back in 2006 during a national team training period in the reign of Egyptian coach Mohammed Abbas, David Kalungi, an ex international  claimed his rear had been massaged by the then team manage, Chris Mubiru. Apparently, Kalungi was taking a nap in the team hotel when the incident happened. 
 Mubiru, has since struggled to disassociate his name from the many gay stories marring Ugandan football. The infamous gay scandals were more highlighted in June 2004 when then SC Villa coach Micho Sredejovic, expressed concerns over how homosexuality was killing the game.
 Bad Black’s ‘threesome’
Sticking to football, city socialite Shanita Namuyimba aka Bad Black, caused  media a frenzy four years ago when she stated that her son was fathered by former Uganda Cranes striker Eugene Sepuya from one of their many reported romps.
 When Serbia-based Sepuya denied paternity, she turned to former KCC winger Eric Obua, younger brother to famous former Cranes forward David Obua. Eric fled the country as the saga went on. To this day, the Bad Black’s kid real dad remains unknown although some in the entertainment industry point to a certain socialite Kim Swagga as the actual dad. 
Kabenge accuses Ddungu
In one of the most pronounced sexual scandals in recent memory, Peninah Kabenge, the sports tutor Makerere University, shocked all and sundry when she appeared on a local television hurling insults at then Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) chairman Rogers Ddungu.
 “Oyo omusajja bulijjo ansaba ko nemuma,” she said. Meaning; that man has always harassed me for sex but I refused to give in. In another interview with a local newspaper, Kabenge went on to clarify the roots of her woes with Ddungu. “I was having my struggles in the Olympic Committee and Ddungu and my ex-husband pre-planned to tarnish my image. They even gave students money here (at Makerere) to demand for my sacking. The students confessed,” she stressed.