With the quest for hosting the Africa Cup of Nations under PAMOJA27 gaining momentum every day, many sports fanatics and concerned parties are starting to raise questions on when the eventual completion of Mandela National Stadium "Namboole" will be.
The stadium was closed off in 2020, at the break of COVID-19, first as a rehabilitation point for the virus victims given its capacity and later put up for renovation to meet the required standards. Since then, many of the Unganda Cranes home games have been played from different stadiums, both within and outside the country.
On several occations, State Minister for Sports Hon. Peter Ogwang has been coming out to promise Ugandans and excite them about the progress and setting dates for the eventual opening. Unfortunately all of these have come to pass without the stadium being opened.
The minister had also promised that Uganda Cranes would host the AFCON23 qualifier match against Algeria in the stadium, which also didn't happen. The match was later played in Cameroon, to which the Cranes lost to Algeria.
While speaking to the press yesterday, NUP's shadow minister for Sports, Hon. Kayemba Solomon, also known as Kayemba Solo expressed his uncertainity about the proposed opening of the stadium in November this year.
Hon. Kayemba's "Yes" when asked about the unlikeliness of opening Namboole in November comes off as an opposition to the State Minister for Education and Sports, Hon. Janet K Museveni, who had ealrier on projected that the stadium would be fully functional by 30th/November/2023.
