Makerere, NCS sign Afcon pitch MoU

Makerere University is set to benefit from a Shs29b facelift of their main sports grounds.

The playground located in the southwestern corner of the university was selected as one of the four-pitch clusters to be attached to the Mandela National Stadium Namboole, one of the venues for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). The tournament is supposed to be jointly hosted by Kenya,Tanzania, and Uganda - which also hopes to use Akii-Bua Stadium in Lira and Hoima City Stadium.

“Government will sink about Shs1.5 trillion in sports infrastructure development ahead of the Africa Cup,” State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang, said at a function held to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the institution and government, through National Council of Sports (NCS), in preparation for the works set to start in July.

“We are grateful to be here today because initially, (Ministry of) Finance had not given us money on time and we had started to look for a private investor (to construct an alternative ground),” Ogwang added.

For Makerere’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the development “is a dream come true.”

“I was involved in the designs to uplift the grounds to a stadium 30 years ago. We have been looking for money to do it, over $25b (about Shs100b).

“In fact, when I was sharing my programmes for the university when I was bidding to come to this office, I included it as one of the things I would do. But I had started to fear that I would leave without implementing this plan.

“We are especially happy that NCS agreed to follow our plan. It is a comprehensive plan. And we are happy because Makerere values sports and we cannot overemphasize the role sports plays in grooming future leaders,” Nawangwe said.

The details

The developed ground, which will be constructed by UPDF’s Engineering Brigade, will have a football pitch akin to the training ground at Namboole – fitted with dressing rooms. If the water tables allow, UPDF will also install a borehole to aid the irrigation system and ensure the university does not grow its water bill.

The ground will also have floodlights (800 lux), standby generation (250kVA), 100,000l water tanks, and unlike Kyambogo University – which will have outdoor basketball courts – Makerere will have an eight-lane athletics track. There will also be a 1,000 seater pavilion on the side neighbouring Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road but the university is at liberty to expand this one in the future.

UPDF has sub-contracted global experts SIS Pitches to work on the pitch.

“Maybe, our request to you would be to provide students or members of staff, who can be trained to maintain the pitch,” NCS and Afcon infrastructure sub-committee chairman Ambrose Tashobya, said.

Ogwang added that “with the Ifs (international federations) raising standards for what facilities need to look like, we need to move with global trends. Many people ask why we get other people to take care of Namboole but it is because we have not studied how to take care of these pitches.

“But we need to train our own students on these new concepts because it is not sustainable for us to keep getting people from outside (the country.”

Tashobya and NCS general secretary Bernard Patrick Ogwel signed on behalf of government while Prof. Nanangwe and deputy university secretary Simon Kizito signed on behalf of Makerere.

Makerere indoor

Ogwang also urged NCS to find the Shs1b required to finish the Makerere Indoor Arena in the next financial year.

"Soon we will bring down Lugogo for redevelopment and our young people will not have anywhere to play from. We need to complete this and make Makerere available," Ogwang said.