Three MPs named in Nakivubo park deal

Feb 19, 2009

THREE Members of Parliament are among the investors who have leased two acres of Nakivubo Stadium land to build a bus park.

By Swalley Kenyi

THREE Members of Parliament are among the investors who have leased two acres of Nakivubo Stadium land to build a bus park.

The MPs, Nathan Byanyima, Sam Otada and Felix Okot Ogong, operate under the Allied Bus Owners Company. They signed the four-year lease agreement with the stadium managers on
November 14, 2008.

Byanyima, the MP for Bukanga county, owns Ibabu buses that ply the western route, while Sam Otada of Otada buses is the MP for Kibanda county. The former minister, Okot Ogong owns Felister Bus Company and is the MP for Dokolo county.

Under the agreement, the company is expected to pay a monthly fee of sh12m, beginning from December 1, 2008 to November 30, 2012. If they so wish, the agreement can be renewed. Nakivubo Stadium Board chairman Godfrey Kisekka signed the agreement.

When the deal came to light, state minister for sports Charles Bakkabulindi and Kisekka said the contract would last one year only. Bakkabulindi, who represents workers in Parliament, vehemently defended the deal, saying the revenue would be used to develop other sports disciplines.

The stadium managers said football attendance had dwindled along with the revenue from gate collections and the management had to find alternative sources of income. It is the same reason the stadium is often hired out for music, religious and other social functions.

A member of the Allied Bus Owners said yesterday the company would pay Nakivubo sh156m annually, and an advance of sh72m for six months had already been paid.

Byanyima, the acting chairman of the bus owners company, said he was surprised that the stadium managers were not straightforward on the deal.

“We wanted to rent the place for five years but they gave us four years,” he said. “We accepted because you can’t beg and choose at the same time. But there is a lot of misinformation about the agreement.”

“Nakivubo is not a matter of life and death,” he added. “If things go wrong, we shall ask for our money back and leave the place.”

The deal has attracted massive criticism from soccer fans.

A meeting of former football players, led by retired Cranes international Paul Ssali, has launched ‘Operation Gogolimbo’ to remove the stadium officials. The retired players have urged Bakkabulindi to dismiss the board of trustees.

A Kampala lawyer had earlier said he was planning a High Court suit against the management for abuse of office.

The stadium, Uganda’s second largest with a seating capacity of 18,000 people, was constructed by the colonial administration in 1921 as a native recreation ground.

The Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium Trust Act provides for a trust to manage the facility. The board of trustees is appointed by the sports minister.

The stadium management first rented out the parking yard to Kalita Bus Company after Kampala City Council leased the Baganda Bus Park to developers. The investors instead built shopping malls, leaving bus operators stranded.

Another piece was rented out to market vendors, while another one behind the Soweto open wing, which hosts a netball court, is now a commercial parking yard.

Other sports facilities that have been taken over by private developers include Lira’s Akii-Bua and Bugembe Stadium in Jinja.

The second and biggest stadium in Kampala is Nelson Mandela National Stadium, Namboole, which seats 42,000 people (related story on Page 48).

The other stadium within the city is the un-developed Wankulukuku, the property of Buganda kingdom.

Critics fear that the loss of stadia land to investors will strain the development of sporting in the country, which lags behind in world rankings.

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