It’s been about a month since Rwanda Investigations Bureau (RIB) launched a probe into alleged theft of the national football team’s playing kit. The development, which was confirmed by the investigations body’s spokesperson Thierry Murangira on Monday, January 18, after several people on social media criticised the football governing body for distributing ‘used’ kits to players during the national team’s presentation event held on Saturday, January 16 in Douala, Cameroon. Amavubi squad were given new kits that had been supplied by kit maker ‘Errea’ last year prior to the showpiece which was initially expected to take place in Cameroon from April 4-25 before it was rescheduled from January 16 to February 7 in the same country due to the coronavirus outbreak. Pressure from the public started to mount on the Football governing bod (FERWAFA) shortly after the team presentation when a leaked kit of goal keeper Olivier Kwizera had his last name manually handwritten at the back yet the same jersey was originally printed with ‘Rwanda’ at its back. FERWAFA, in a statement released on Monday, January 18, apologized for the mistake made, explaining that they had no choice but to use the jerseys they had, after efforts to have them replaced by the kit maker failed to materialise. The jerseys were, according to FERWAFA supplied with nothing written at the back, to allow the national team to write the names of the players selected ahead for the tournament as per African Football Confederation (CAF)’s rules. However, FERWAFA later realized that goalkeepers’ jerseys were printed with ‘Rwanda’ on the back prompting the football governing body to order their replacements from the kit maker but were not delivered on time due to Covid-19 related reasons. “FERWAFA apologises where things didn’t go right and promises that, in partnership with the Ministry of Sports, that anything that has to deal with the national team’s kit will be done on time in future,” reads part of the FERWAFA statement. However, a new version of the national team’s kit saga which sparked mixed reactions from the public came just a few hours later, when RIB announced that they received a case from FERWAFA on December 23, regarding alleged theft of the national football’s kit. In an interview with Times Sport on Monday, RIB spokesperson, Thierry Murangira, said that investigations are ongoing. Without giving details, Murangira said, “We received a case from FERWAFA regarding theft of the national team kit and investigations are ongoing.” Times Sport understands that, every two years, the Ministry of Sports allocates Rwf 100 million to buy Sports kits for national teams. Meanwhile, FERWAFA receives $200 000 every year from FIFA to buy kits for the national football teams.
