A pro-sports govt would have planned a bid to stage Afcon

GABON.

Gabon is a country of 1.7m people whose well-being hasn’t necessarily been enriched by their oil wells.

Libreville the capital city has decent roads, low-rise buildings and a coastline that doesn’t take the breath away.

Port Gentil, where Uganda Cranes is based, is rich in petroleum and is dominated by expatriates who are there to earn a big dime.
There is a clear financial divide, which is typical of most quasi-democratic African countries.

And other than a small fine strip of white sand at Sogara beach, I have not yet seen anything in the small town to marvel at.

Yet the country is hosting its second Africa Cup of Nations edition in five years, a competition where Africa’s best sixteen teams compete to decide the continent’s number one team.

Twice in the last five years Gabon and their neighbours Equatorial Guinea have staged the tournament. Sixty years after the inaugural Nations Cup in Sudan, Uganda can only watch on as Africa’s biggest sporting event is tossed around the continent by Caf.

The government has done a good job of disregarding the legacy benefits associated with organizing the biennial competition because it does not give a damn about sport.

Other countries that have successfully offered themselves to stage last 31 editions include, but are not limited to, Sudan, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya, Ghana, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

And on two occasions the tournament has been jointly-organised by two countries.

In all the aforementioned countries, you encounter roads, convention centres and stadiums that were put up in preparation Afcon and they have since transformed towns and bettered the livelihood of citizens.

It is not uncommon to witness authentic airport improvement/expansion projects and new hotels being erected in anticipation of the surge of numbers that hosting the Africa Cup of Nations bring.

Three days ago, I encountered a mid-aged couple from Grenada who had flown all the way to Port Gentil to watch Afcon.

They were actually impressed by Uganda’s performance against Ghana but that subject is for another day.

Uganda’s neighbours Rwanda hosted the Africa Championships of Nations, (Chan) a tournament like the Africa Cup of Nations but played among home-based players, last year and pulled it off as tremendous hosts.

Rwanda today has better stadia than Uganda. In fact Namboole in its current state would need refurbishment before meeting Caf requirements to stage a Chan or Afcon match.

In this decade alone, we have docilely watched on as our neighbours Sudan, Rwanda and Kenya bid and win the right to stage Chan.
That definitely means the three are closer to an Afcon bid than we are.

Gabon have understood the trick in staging the competition so much so that their national team has turned qualification into a habit.

But more than the sporting rewards, the government has understood the tourism advantages that come with the Africa Cup of Nations and socio-economic transformation that sports can provide.

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted by Cameroon, 46 years after they organised the competition.

The tournament will thereafter move to Ivory Coast in 2021, who staged it in 1984.

In 2023 Guinea Conakry will welcome visitors from the world to showcase itself to the world as the tournament rumbles off in January.

That means the earliest Uganda can stage the competition is in 2025. We have the advantage of having sufficient time on our hands to organize an event that will have a lasting impact on our country.

Although Caf requirements mean two stadia are enough to host the competition, Uganda has the resources to construct three more stadia to go along with a rehabilitated Namboole.

It is not rocket science to erect stadia in Gulu, Rukungiri and Mbale between now and 2024.
Or am I dreaming?

[email protected]
@mnamanya