The Parliament of Uganda led by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga on Tuesday hosted the 21st National Prayer Breakfast under the theme ‘The Power of Character in Leadership’ inspired by Titus 2:7-8.
The event was graced by the President, His Excellency Yoweri K. Museveni and his wife Janet Museveni, together with the Senior Apostolic Leader at Harvest International Ministries (H.I.M), Johnny Enlow at the Pearl of Africa Hotel in Kampala.
The Prayer Breakfast agenda included a speech from popular Ugandan athlete Denis Masinde Onyango, who shared a personal testimony before various legislators and leaders in the country.
Mr Onyango (born 15 May 1985) is a goalkeeper and serves as captain of Uganda Cranes. He also currently plays for South African Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns.
He was named the 2016 African-based African Player of the year. He was also ranked as the tenth best goalkeeper in the world in list for 2016 compiled by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
Mr Onyango cited prayer, teamwork, patience and hard work as she opened up about his success.
Full Speech
“I must give back to God because he has put me where I am today. It has not been an easy journey for me, growing up in the townships of Nsambya. I believed in what I wanted to do, I kept going. It was never easy.
If you believe that life is going to be easy, and that you are going to sit back and wait for someone to give you money, it is not going to come. You need to stretch your hand out there and make things happen for you because God helps those who help themselves.
When I sit down with the national team, I always remind them where they come from, and they must be strong believers in God. When you don’t believe, you can never achieve. When we pray together, we become stronger.
We believe in one goal, and that goal is to win the game. Sometimes it doesn’t not work out. It is not that every time you ask for something, it is going to be given to you, so you need to be patient. I let the team become aware that when you stay strong, and work hard, things will fall in place for you.
We learn from each other, I could never be the Dennis Onyango that I am today without learning from other people, and also having many around me to support me, make me a better person and become a strong goal keeper. I was in 2016 named Africa’s goal keeper that comes from Uganda.
We as sports people, I believe we have the power to bring people together. We should encourage youngsters to work a little bit harder, and stay positive, because when you look at my journey, I have been at a club where I stayed 2 years without playing any competitive football, not even one game. But I stayed focused, and I had the right people around me to guide me and tell me what to do.
I did believe in myself and, I had people who believed in me, and they made me stronger. I because a regular in my club, and of course helping Uganda to qualify for the first Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 39 years, it was a great achievement for us.
Things are never easy for athletes when training, but when they have the ability to lift the flag up, they do it with pride because this is their nation and they must give everything they have once given the opportunity.
I don’t think I would swap anything for my life than football. Football has looked after me and my family. I am not the eldest in the family, but I know I am the bread winner. And I give everything I have for them because they must look up to me and say; yes you have made us proud. I believe the government should put up its hand and say; we will give you a little bit more of infrastructures.
We do have talent in the country. Stadiums are not only for football, but athletes, because they are the ones who bring the medals. Of course football does not bring all the medals, but we do accumulate most of the fans. True, we also need to improve our game. With the help of the government that has been coming through, it has helped us achieve what we have. That is why you can never stand alone, you always need someone to lift you up.”
