When the Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) last year introduced a policy that would make naturalised players ineligible to don the Amavubi Stars colours, little did anyone know the move would return to haunt the national team itself.

The decision followed Rwanda’s disqualification from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers for fielding a Congolese-born Daddy Birori. The striker was in the Amavubi team that beat Republic of Congo 4-3 on penalties in their second-round two-legged tie and had been playing for the national side since 2009.

Though born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the striker held a Rwandan passport. But he also held a second passport, as Etekiama Agiti Tady, the name under which he was registered as a player with DRC club AS Vita.

It has been 11 years since Rwanda last participated in a continental cup and both Ferwafa and the Ministry of Sports and Culture (Minispoc) mandarins are rueing the loss of a significant chunk of their striking force, notably Ugandan-born Meddie Kagere, who has played 26 matches for Rwanda and netted nine times since his Amavubi debut in 2011.

The Gor Mahia FC forward, currently the top scorer in the Kenyan Premier League, has played club football in Rwanda for most of his professional career.

Since 2006, he has been with sides such as Rwanda’s SC Kiyovu, Police, Rayon Sports, Mukura, the defunct Atraco, as well as Uganda’s Mbale Heroes and Masaka LC and also Tunisia’s Esperance Sportive de Zarzis.

Other top players excluded from Amavubi include Peter Kagabo, Charles Tibingana and Farouk Ruhinda, all born in Uganda.

Kagere, who is married to a Rwandan, last played for Amavubi in the match against Congo, in which he scored.

Last week, after Rwanda lost to Burkina Faso and Tunisia Under-23 1-0, respectively, in a 10-day training camp in Morocco, Amavubi head coach Jonathan Brian McKinstry did not shy away from saying that his team needs a quality striker.

The Briton recently likened prolific goal scorer Kagere to England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, saying “he scores goals like Rooney.” He said: “To have him is like having Wayne Rooney in the team.”

The coach however insists he is not allowed to call up the striker: “We are not thinking about Meddie Kagere because we are not allowed to call him up; he is illegible because of what happened last year.”

Kagere told Rwanda Today this week from his base in Nairobi that he submitted his request for citizenship through Ferwafa last year and he has been waiting for a positive response.

“I may be denied the right today but, deep inside me, I know that I am a Rwandan and I will always be proud of my country and what I have done it for it,” he said.

However, the Permanent Secretary of Minispoc, Edward Kalisa, told the media last week that Kagere was yet to officially put in a request for citizenship.

Mr Kalisa said: “Kagere has never written officially requesting to be granted citizenship and that’s why he has not been granted one.”