The new president of Rwanda Cricket Association, Stephen Musaale, has said his administration will put more emphasis on the development of modern cricket facilities across the country so that Rwanda becomes a destination for international tournaments. Musaale was voted as the new Cricket Association boss on Sunday, April 25, after trouncing Eddie Balaba Mugarura, by 20 to 5 votes. The Cricket governing body recently told Times Sport that it is seeking for two cricket facilities to attract international tournaments. During the next four years, Musaale and his administration targets to increase the number of international standard cricket grounds to at least four so that Rwanda becomes a destination of choice for ICC tournaments and international tours. This goes with the body’s continued efforts in promoting the cricket game across the country in order to have a large pool of players to choose from for high-performance set-up, U-19s, emerging sides, A-sides and the senior national team sides (for both men and women). With Rwanda national women Cricket side now ranked 7th on the continent, Musaale believes Rwanda deserves more than that. “Our goal is to challenge for the first three slots within the next three years. We want to improve our international performances for the U-19s as well as the national men and women sides,” he said. During his tenure, Musaale is also looking forward to establishing improved partnerships by attracting more sponsors into the sport to ensure self-sustainability of the body. “We look forward to increasing our partnership base; strengthening our existing partnership with the Ministry of Sports and the Rwanda National Olympic Sports Committee among others as well as attracting more corporate companies into the sport,” he vowed. If his administration successfully implements their targets, the new President is convinced the sport will get better and foresees a bright future for the game. “Our plan is to upgrade existing cricket grounds to international standards and also develop new grounds and modern cricket facilities not just in Kigali but across the country. All these will ultimately help our teams to put in better performances and excel on the international scene,” he added. Musaale has been in and around Rwandan cricket since 2003 where besides being an active member of Abakambwe one of two social cricket clubs in Rwanda, he is also the patron of Charity Cricket Club, which is so far Rwanda’s most decorated women’s cricket club. Between 2009 and 2017, Musaale served as the Treasurer of the Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA) and also played a key role during RCA’s 10-year anniversary back in 2010. While he takes charge of RCA as new president, the rest of board members held onto their roles. They include Audifax Byiringiro (Vice-President), Julius Mbaraga who will remain RCA’s Secretary-General while Srinath Vardhineni and Sonia Uwimana will keep their positions as Treasurer and Women Representative respectively. To him, leading Rwandan Cricket body means a lot and hopes that with the assistance of the executive committee, the body will work towards popularizing the sport and improving Rwanda’s performances on the international scene. “There’s nothing as fulfilling as giving back to the game you love. Although I have not been closely involved in board decisions in the recent past, I have been involved in the game and I’m very impressed with the clear vision, strategy and more importantly, the commitment of the organisation to promote the game and make it sustainable,” he said. “I now look forward to working with all the stakeholders involved in the game from colleagues, clubs, schools, regional associations, supporters, volunteers and commercial partners to drive a bottom up approach to achieving our goals in the new strategy,” he added.
