Musonye upbeat on Kagame Cup progress

CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye is confident the upcoming Kagame Cup championship will go on as planned despite some clubs pulling out of the competition for “non-football reasons”.This comes after Kenyan champions Tusker pulled out of this year’s championship which is set to be held in Sudan, despite repeated assurances of security.The Kenyan champions cited insecurity as the main reason for their withdrawal in a move that threatens to water down the level of competition in the event as Tanzanian clubs Yanga and Simba have threatened to pull out as well.Tusker chairman James Musyoki said the club is not comfortable playing their matches in the Kadougli City where the team was due to be stationed during the two-week tournament.However, Musonye insisted the tournament will go ahead even without the Kenyan champions. Already Sudanese top two clubs El Merriekh and El Hilal opted out even before the draws.“The tournament is good for our regional teams but it is unfortunate that politics has come into it and teams are pulling out for non-football reasons.“However, we will go ahead and Tusker should be ready to face disciplinary action for confirming participation, only to pull out at the last minute,” he warned.The Kenyan-born admitted that though Kenya had shown interest to host the tournament, it was not backed by any serious commitment.Kadougli is the capital city of North Kordofan State in Sudan and is the base of one of the headquarters of the United Nations Mission in Sudan charged with keeping peace in Darfur.Apart from Tusker, other teams that will be based in Kadougli include; Al-Hilal Kadougli, Al Ahly Shandy, all from Sudan, Al Nasir from South Sudan, as well as Falcons from Zanzibar.

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Musonye upbeat on Kagame Cup progress