By Admin,

Rwanda football federation (FERWAFA) has cracked the whip on all naturalised players dropping them from the national team Amavubi this is after the Dadi Birori debacle that led to Rwanda being disqualified from the Afcon 2015 qualifers after they qualified from the preliminary stages.

Rwanda had  booked a place in Group A with Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan. However, following Caf’s decision to ban Rwanda, the latter was replaced with Congo Brazzaville.

Birori who was later banned for 2 years by CAF after he also played for Congolese side AS Vita with the name Tadi Etekiama sparked the move that was vetoed by the federation.

Amavubi head coach Stephen Constatine told Soka25east.com that they had reached the tough decision to cut off link with players who were not born in Rwanda.

“It was a tough decision and a big blow to the team but a decision had to be reached”Constantine said

Ugandan-born striker Meddie Kagere who joined FK Tirana in Albania two months ago will no longer feature for the Amavubi despite scoring nine goals in 29 appearances for the Amavubi since his debut in 2011.

Also caught in the mix of things is Jimmy Mbaraga and Peter Kagabo who feature for Police FC in the Rwandan National League as well as Rayon Sport’s Jerome Sina have also been told that they can no longer play for the Amavubi.

The naturalised  have been ordered to  return all documentation to the Immigration Office indicating that they are Rwandese and this includes national identity cards. They are expected to regain their original nationalities respective of where they were born.

Also the players  service passports at Immigration will no longer be legible for use to travel or represent Rwanda. In the case of Kagere and Kagabo, they will regain their Ugandan nationality and in the case of name changing, they will act accordingly.

Kagabo is expected to take up his original name which is Peter Otema while Sina is expected to get his Congolese nationality and passport as Jerome Sena Abedi.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com