Tharcisse Kamanda's second four-year term reign as president of Rwanda Rugby Federation (RRF) seems to be getting off to a rocky start with allegations of non-performance and voter bribery hanging over his head.
Kamanda was re-elected during the federation's General Assembly held in one of the hotels based in Kigali on November 26. He was voted by 10 out of 11 eligible members, beating his rival Donat Kanyamahanga to the top position.
The ten members who voted for him include Puma RFC, Muhanga Thunders, University of Rwanda, Resilience RFC, Burera Tigers, Ruhango Zebras Women, Kigali Sharks, Tumba College of Technology, Gitisi TSS and Rwamagana Hippoes.
Kanyamahanga's solitary vote came from his own club Lion de Fer.
However, the absence of one of the leading members (1000 Hills Rugby Club) from the General Assembly hence the vote, has caused alarm, leading to accusations of foul play by critics of the federation president.
A source, with the knowledge of the inner workings of Rwandan rugby, who spoke to Times Sport on condition of anonymity, said Kamanda does not deserve a second term.
"If the clubs (members) were voting independently, he (Kamanda), would be returning for a second term. He did nothing for four years, actually five if you add the last 12 months in which he held office illegally," the source claimed.
"Under his watch, the sport has terribly regressed in both quality and quantity. No development activities, no sponsors, the national team, which just a few years back played in the semi-finals of the annual Nairobi Safari 7s, is no more," the source further said.
Those claims were echoed by 1000 Hills president Serge Shema, who also alleges that his team was denied the 2023 league title under unclear circumstances.
Shema said, "Zero game development through young boys and girls club levels, two years without a competition for U18, U16 and U14 in Kigali. At the senior level, not enough competitions and no strategy to attract sponsors. The federation didn't bring in any sponsor whether for the league or other competitions."
"There has been (poor) management of the funds they receive to both facilitate clubs and organize competitions. They have failed to convince sponsors, the national team performance has been in decline since 2019," he claimed.
It's all false!
Kamanda, in a separate interview with Times Sport, denied all allegations against him, instead defending the achievements of his first term of office.
"There is no controversy about elections. The elections went well and were peaceful. The league ended well and the winning team (Lions de Fer) received the trophy. 1000 Hills finished second and received its award too," he noted.
Kamanda also confirmed that 1000 Hills was suspended by the extraordinary General Assembly that took place on 30/07/2023 for 'not having legal documents".
"it (suspension) has no time limit. Once they get these documents, they will be free to apply for full membership. There is no issue between the federation and them (1000 Hills)," he said.
About the election exercise, he said, it went very well. "This club (1000 Hills) lacks leadership and lie to their players and media. As a federation, we follow rules from Rwanda National Olympic Sports Committee, Ministry of Sports and Rwanda Governance Board, the government institution in charge of NGOs," he explained.
About allegations of bribery, Kamanda was categorical in his response, "Not true. The elections were very clear and represented by the Rwanda National Olympic Sports Committee, Rugby Africa and World Rugby. Members have right to vote by their choice."
Regarding accusations by his critics of non-performance, Kamanda fired back with full force, saying, "All activities for the past four years were presented last Sunday. So, it's not true (that we did nothing). There is evidence for everything."
"We have eleven members. As I said, we work through the decisions of the General Assembly, so they (clubs) know they must fulfil all requirements. Since 2020 this club was given enough time to get legal documents unfortunately, they failed and started to lie through social media and so forth," he disclosed.
On the issue of poor management of the federation funds, Kamanda said, "The financial statement was very clear. The federation received money to facilitate different areas such as administration, governance, participation, training and women's development."
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Meanwhile, Shema insists his team finished league with the highest number of points, 40 from 10 matches compared to 37 for Lion de Fer who were supposed to face Kigali Sharks in their re-arranged final of the season, a fixture that, he said, "was never played".
He asserted that, "To win the league, they (Lion de Fer) needed to play that game against Sharks and win, or if their opponent failed to take the field, they would have had a walk over like as the rules state but that didn't happen."
"And in the end, they organized a friendly game between Lion de Fer and Sharks to award the former the league trophy despite playing less matches. It's sad but true."
According to available information, Kigali Sharks won the specially arranged 'friendly' 18-17.
Nevertheless, Kamanda insists Lion de Fer are the true league champions due to the fact that they are fully registered with the federation yet 1000 Hills are not, and in essence, have no right to complain.
