A young man from Bufundi in Kigezi who cut his teeth in the mining industry as a porter, managed to rise to the esteemed office of chief inspector of mines in a space of 30 years!
It is the stuff of fantasy stories and I would be the first to question this tale’s veracity if I did not have first-hand evidence! Engineer Ezeckiel Sulumani Balaba, was born in 1929 and passed on at the end of January, 2020.
In his time, he built a legacy of doing things that others dared not dream about. At a time when government jobs were for life, he decided to retire at the relatively tender age of 49.
A top rate mines engineer trained in the UK, his boss at the time threatened to have him jailed for quitting his job with no obvious reason to do so.
He convinced the minister of Lands and survey to let him go on condition he would return whenever required. He then left the bright lights of the city and decided to settle in Kabale, a very remote town at the time.
From that seemingly isolated corner of the world, he built a fortune that had him listed by Sunday Vision as one of Uganda’s wealthiest men in 2009.
His journey in private business started with running a bed and breakfast facility in the late seventies, to saw-milling timber in the eighties, bus transport in the nineties and commercial real estate in his later years.
When he eventually slowed down in his eighties, his favourite phrase became, "I THANK GOD!”
He loved to recall his childhood days walking barefooted on a daily 12 mile return trip through forests with wild animals or how he left Kabale as a young man to go to Busoga College Mwiri travelling on a bus for the very first time!
With a hearty laugh, he would conclude all his tales with the simple phrase, "I THANK GOD!”
That phrase for me is my father’s legacy. Despite its simplicity, it carries a lot of gravitas.
It acknowledges that the efforts of our hands are futile if not ordained by the almighty. It also shows gratitude of ones accomplishments well knowing that many do not live long enough to see their plans come to fruition or have the luxury of sitting back and appreciating what they have achieved.
In three simple words, we can all verbalise our gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon us.
From April 2017 till April 2021, I was privileged to serve as the President of Rwanda Cricket Association. At the start of my term, Rwanda was ranked 39th out of 93 associates in the annual global cricket development survey that is conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
By the end of 2020, RCA’s ranking had improved to 19th!
In four short years under my leadership, the board and staff managed to transform Rwanda cricket Association from a "middle of the road” performer to one of the top five performing associates in spearheading cricket growth in Africa!
Rwanda now has a seat on the table d’honneur of African cricket alongside the likes of Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania. I THANK GOD!
Promoting Youth cricket
First among the achievements to be most thankful for is the creation of age category competitions and prioritisation of youth cricket in the four years that I was at the helm of RCA.
RCA managed to set up U-15 national competitions for both boys and girls starting in 2017 and running annually until 2020 when COVID-19 interrupted the routine.
These junior competitions were further complemented by hosting annual home series or friendly games for U19 and U23 teams that allowed our young cricketers to challenge themselves against teams from within the region and beyond.
Going West
For eighteen years between 2000 and 2018, the game of cricket grew steadily in Rwanda but remained unable to expand to the western region due to the particularly unfavourable conditions.
The lack of sports grounds, the absence of reliable partners and the less than eager school authorities all contributed to the hesitancy of RCA to go west.
After the opening of Gahanga Cricket Stadium, the attitude towards Cricket within Rwanda quickly changed from dismissive indifference to enthusiastic curiosity. By an added stroke of luck, RCA got a worthy partner with a specific interest in taking cricket to rural Rwanda. Our job at RCA as the custodians of the game was to use the funding provided by the sponsor to reach the last frontier for the game in Rwanda; the western region.
The CBH-Yorkshire Tea cricket project that took cricket to Karongi, Rutsiro and Rubavu is one of my personal favourite milestones in the last four years at the helm of Rwanda cricket.
The project was set to expand to Nyabihu in its final phase but for the interference of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020.
That minor blip notwithstanding, the project has been a huge success with twelve schools recruited into RCA’s development program and over 1200 school children introduced to the joys of cricket in the last three years.
Making Rwanda a global Cricketing Destination
Success at home would be insufficient if it did not translate into putting Rwanda firmly on the global cricketing map. In my tenure as president, I made it a personal objective to invite to Rwanda all those that cared to listen.
We successfully hosted the top officials from the ICC at the opening of the Gahanga Cricket Stadium in October, 2017. These officials were led by the General Manager, Global Development who heads the department for Associate cricket at the ICC.
In 2018, it was no coincidence that we hosted the first ICC tournament ever held in Rwanda.
The impressions made at the opening ceremony convinced the ICC team that Rwanda was the ideal destination to hold ICC events in Africa. To cement this trust, Rwanda was nominated among only 3 countries to host the Cricket World Cup trophy tour in early February 2019.
This event also turned out to be a huge success with the trophy being received by the Minister of Sports together with British High commissioner and a multitude of excited cricket fans.
For all these milestones, I THANK GOD!
I happily pass the baton to the new leadership as they usher in the next phase of growth for the beautiful game of cricket in the beautiful land of a thousand hills!
The author is a former president of the Rwanda Cricket Association.