For several hours on Sunday, a cloud of fear settled over Uganda’s football community. Mike Hillary Mutebi, one of the country’s most celebrated football coaches, had vanished. His family raised the alarm after the veteran tactician left his home in Kawempe, a Kampala suburb, under circumstances nobody could explain. He could not be reached on his known phone numbers. Word spread fast. Messages flooded social media as fans, former players and football administrators pleaded for any information about his whereabouts.

Those who knew him personally said he had appeared deeply troubled in the hours before he disappeared. By Monday morning, no official word had come from authorities, and the silence only deepened the anxiety.

Then came the relief.

Kampala Metropolitan Police confirmed that Mutebi had been found alive near a banana plantation in Kisubi, along the Entebbe Road corridor. He was rushed to hospital where doctors began assessing his condition. Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire confirmed the development, saying medical teams were attending to the coach and that more details would be shared once assessments were complete. The circumstances that led him to that plantation remained unexplained.

Mutebi built his name during a remarkable run at KCCA FC between 2016 and 2021. Under his guidance, the Lugogo side won three Uganda Premier League titles, two domestic cups, four Super Cups and the CECAFA Clubs Cup. He also steered KCCA to become the first Ugandan club to reach the group stage of the CAF Champions League in 2018, and later mounted a strong showing in the CAF Confederation Cup. Before KCCA, he had coached SC Villa, Rwanda’s AS Kigali, and briefly took charge of the Uganda national team in 2004.

He remains hospitalised as authorities piece together what happened.