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OPINION

By Immanuel Ben Misagga

Recently, it emerged that continental football body (Caf) had declared Namboole stadium unsuitable to host international matches on grounds that it does not meet the requisite standards.

The report by Caf inspectors who visited the stadium in February was read on the floor of Parliament by Opposition Chief Whip John Baptist Nambeshe.

The gist of the report is that “several areas of the exterior and interior zones of the stadium are still in progress and not yet complete”.

Caf’s decision means that Uganda will have to look elsewhere to host its key World Cup qualifiers against Botswana and Algeria in June.

Surprisingly, several media entities made a travesty of the situation to publish stories of how the contractor, the UPDF Engineering Brigade, has done substandard and shoddy work in renovating the stadium.

Unsurprisingly, Fufa did not come out with an official statement regarding Caf’s report, but instead, the federation claims it has nothing to do with the ongoing Namboole renovations because they are merely ‘clients.’

Like I always say, the devil is in the details and Caf’s ruling seems to be mired in a concerted effort to scapegoat the UPDF Engineering Brigade. In fact, it raises several procedural and technical questions.

For instance, Caf does all its official communication through Fufa, not the Government. How could Nambeshe read out the report before Fufa communicates to the public?

More importantly, what are Caf’s terms of reference before inspecting the stadium? Are they structural, security in nature or organisational?

Namboole stadium is owned by the Government through the ministries of finance on one hand and that of education and sports. Why is it that none of the two is complaining about UPDF’s work?

In the wake of Nambeshe’s assertions, Speaker of Parliament Anita Among ordered sports state minister Peter Ogwang to provide accountability on the renovation of Namboole. This is a step in the right direction, but why didn’t Parliament first seek expert counsel from the project overseer, the Ministry of Works and Transport?

Even when every detail is available, why are some media entities blaming the UPDF for shoddy work yet Caf’s refusal to grant Namboole hosting rights is simply based on ‘work in progress?’

One thing for sure is that a foreign company lobbied to do the renovation of Namboole and, after failing to secure the deal, withheld the stadium’s As-Built Drawings, the document which details drawings submitted by the original contractor upon the completion of the project in 1998.

There is even talk that Caf based its decision on the allocation of a parking space to a defunct public transport bus company. This is an issue to do with Namboole stadium management and does not tie in the contractor and was never part of the terms of reference when UPDF commenced to work.

In all this, if there was an entity to complain about Namboole works, it would have been the National Council of Sports (NCA), which is the technically mandated body to regulate sports in the country.

To me, the whole situation bears the hallmarks of a choreographed syndicate to malign the UPDF Engineering Brigade. And this pattern has been clear for more than a year when Fufa president declared that the UPDF Engineering Brigade is doing shoddy work.

Procedurally, Fufa should have shared the Caf report with the UPDF Engineering Brigade and their decision to take it to Parliament is suspicious. Fufa’s silence is even fishy.

Nowhere is it mentioned that the works at Namboole are substandard yet it is also an open secret that works have been delayed by Government’s delay in expediting full funding to complete the work. So, it would be foolhardy for anyone to blame the UPDF for delayed works when the situation is not of their making. I would have been very worried, if Caf inspectors had raised issues to do with standards in civil and structural engineering, but none is mentioned. I have worked on several projects with the UPDF Engineering Brigade and I can assure the public that they are one of the best and most disciplined in the region.

In all this, I am baffled that none of UPDF’s 10 MPs has come out to defend the institution.

Back in February, 2022 when they started the renovation of Namboole, they secured and fenced off the land that had been grabbed by encroachers, something the Government had failed to do for years.

What is more, the UPDF presented the renovation masterplan that clearly indicated that they are renovating Namboole as a sports complex, not as a football stadium as some people think. For starters, a completed Namboole will have facilties for other disciplines like athletics, rugby, basketball, boxing and volleyball, among others, including amenities such as a hotel, gym and restaurants.

Prioritising football wouldn’t have made sense, especially from a procurement point of view. You cannot procure plastic seats for the main stadium and leave out the rubberised, artificial running surface for athletics or the adjacent training venue.

It is clear in UPDF’s schedule of works that the renovation is being done as a whole and, therefore, cannot leave any discipline behind as some people had wished. UPDF couldn’t concentrate on football alone.

Therefore, with 90% of Namboole completed, the issue about Namboole’s failure to meet Caf standards has nothing to do with the quality of the work; it is just a matter of delay, whose reasoning is not disputed by anyone.

Lest I forget, one school of thought I landed on suggests that the woes regarding Namboole stadium are machinations engineered by Fufa to have The Cranes’ games played abroad.

This is premised on the back of Uganda’s recent struggles in getting good results, a dilemma that has cast Fufa in bad light. So, with the country virtually out of contention for the 2026 World Cup, it doesn’t make sense for Fufa to host games at Namboole when there is a risk fans might turn violent and demand change in leadership.

The writer is a football investor and farmer