Ben Misagga is like a cat of nine lives. Just when he seems to be cornered, he pulls off a fresh trick. He is so slick even his closest associates or his staunch critics may not know his next step.

Just weeks after stepping aside from the Villa presidency, he is president again, albeit at newly-promoted Nyamityobora FC.

On Saturday, Misagga was unveiled in Mbarara ahead of the season and he has already set out to start a new chapter. 

“I told you I will never leave football because the passion is inborn,” he told The Observer. “I’m here to create a football dynasty in western Uganda. Watch this space.”

Misagga insists he is still a Villa fan, a club he guided for the past four years. “Villa is in a new transitional stage but I’m still very much in touch and I will tell you at the right time my next move at Villa Park,” he says.

Meanwhile, football insiders have intimated that Misagga’s move to Nyamityobora could be linked to his perceived scheme to contest for the Fufa presidency in 2021.

Under the current Fufa rules, only a person who has been in top football administration for seven straight years is eligible for the presidency, something Misagga can achieve at Nyamityobora. However, Misagga insists he can do a lot in football than just being Fufa president.

“Speculation [about the presidency] will never go away but my works speak for themselves,” he says. “I’m not in football for a living but I spend a lot on it,”

WHAT NEXT?

Misagga says Nyamityobora is ready to cause shockwaves in the upcoming season and has already hired Spaniard Antonio Flores as technical director.

“We are very active in the player-transfer market but we will not go for recycled players; we want young talents between the ages of 17 to 20 years. We will unveil the new team in a few days. We may not challenge for the title but we are going to make every opponent’s trip here difficult,” he says.

“Even several other sponsors are coming on board. Nyamityobora is going to change the football landscape in western Uganda.”

Meanwhile, sources have intimated that the club is in negotiations with StarTimes to be the main sponsor.

If all goes to plan, it remains to be seen whether Nyamityobora will take the league by storm. Or it will be the latest western team to come and disappear like Rwenshama, Mbarara United or Biharwe. Anything can happen.