Uganda one of the three East Africa Countries together With Kenya and Tanzania set to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and this year’s Africa Nations Championship,CHAN, is racing against time to get ready for the continental championships.
Uganda President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has set the ball rolling by commissioning the newly refurbished Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium.
The multi-purpose 35,000 seater stadium was developed by businessman Hamis Kiggundu famously known in Uganda as Ham.
During the commissioning, President Museveni congratulated and thanked Mr. Ham Kiggundu for the good work of giving Nakivubo Stadium a state-of-the-art face-lift.
“First of all, Kiggundu is a young man who was born I think when the NRM had come to power, but he is a real NRM by being innovative and knowing that you can get prosperity in Uganda. This is what we have been telling you,” The President noted.
The President said Mr. Kiggundu has been able to make things happen and develop his country because he believes in the philosophy of “yes we can”.
“I thank Kiggundu because he has been able to show that attitude not only in this project but even in other projects. When he came up with this idea, in my bushwar ways of doing things, I quickly understood him because we bushwar fighters don’t take long to understand things. If you take a long time to make a decision you die,” he said.
“He had a clear idea. There’s a government asset called Nakivubo, you lease it to me, I develop it using private money and then cover my costs through the collections and also other businesses I will do around there for 49 years. So, this was clear, what is the problem? I told people to support this man, if he doesn’t perform we throw him out, if he performs, he will recover his money because what we want is not a government stadium or a Church stadium; it is not important, what we want is a stadium in Uganda irrespective of who runs it and by the end of the day we all gain from it businesswise.”
President Museveni also noted that the government needs investors such as Mr. Kiggundu to help it develop some assets that steer development of the country.
“If we get the private sector who can do this type of thing as guided by the government and according to the standards of the government then there’s really no problem. I have seen the facilities; I have been assured that they meet the standards of AFCON and other international groups so I’m very happy. Now we have Namboole which is a government one, this is also government but now leased to Kiggundu for 49 years and then we are going to build one or two others in Hoima and maybe Akii-Bua in Lira. In future we shall also have one zonal stadium in each zone.”
Uganda is also set to unveil the Mandela National Stadium ,Namboole, which is currently under renovation.
“I want to say that 95 percent of the works are ready for Mandela National Stadium to be commissioned,” The Minister of State for Sports Peter Ogwang remarked.
