Talk of Uganda jointly hosting 2027 Afcon is a figment of Magogo’s wild imagination

The decision to have Uganda's final home fixture in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign played in Cameroon has been met with bewildered disgust.

With Fufa's blessing, perhaps at its insistence, the West African country was cherry-picked after the repair job at Mandela National Stadium crawled to a standstill. Previously, Peter Ogwang—our Sports minister—had found it necessary to reassure his audience that the meticulous and patient work of the UPDF engineering brigade would wave a magic wand. 

We were told that the first phase of the repair job would build skilfully to a climax on June 1. Eleven days later, Emmanuel Okwi would lead the Cranes out onto the pitch ahead of a showdown with Algeria's Desert Foxes.

The drone's-eye view of Namboole that the Sports minister's Twitter feed regularly spewed out whetted the appetite of the uninitiated. For those whose concern seemed urgent and genuine, the torturously slow wait escalated a sense of foreboding. 

This past week the ‘I Told You Sos’ from the above-mentioned Doubting Thomases started filtering through. Ogwang, who had made the repair job seem as rou­tine and banal as watching the pink-orange sunset over Namboole, was left eating humble pie. To his credit, the Sports minister took “full responsibility” and “apologise[d] … for failing to fulfil my own promise.“

He still felt the need to tell all and sundry that the government “remains steadfast to ensure that [Mandela National] Stadium is completed without further delays.” Probably because he felt the weight of the promises previously made, the minister did not put a clock on it this time.

Yet Ogwang and Moses Magogo—Fufa's top honcho—are certain that plans to jointly host the 2027 Afcon finals (Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki style) do not mean they have taken leave of their collective senses. We are somehow expected not to be at our wits' end. Not even after hearing Magogo reduce the requirements of erecting one standard stadium and two training pitches inside under four years to something routine and banal.

This, however, is a government that has since 2010 made heavy weather of constructing a high altitude training facility in Teryet. Such an almighty stall should have left state actors that offer their two cents on all things sports infrastructure unquestionably tarnished. Yet for some reason unbeknown to us they expect our implicit trust that the notorious leopard has lost its distinctive spots. 

Your columnist has over the years sent dispatches that pick at the uneasy dependency between the government and sports federations. The anecdotal evidence severally encountered, sometimes stumbled upon, has forced me to reject both the claim and conviction that the government means well. 

Sports federations are oftentimes forced to steel themselves for gruelling fights. But there are also times when the privilege and entitlement of their heads leaves a perplexed—if nauseated—observer unimpressed by what they have been subjected to. 

Magogo and his cronies at Mengo have gained a mastery over dark arts. They are masters at alchemising politics, diplomacy and the personal into a feel-good glow. They create chaos and crisis where it should not be and profit off the heightened fear birthed. They also radiate hope and promise heaven on earth well aware that there are rich rewards to be expected from optimism.

The common denominator in either case of hope or despair is the prospect of the most important constituency of the sport—the fan—unlikely to be rewarded. Such a betrayal of trust should not recede from the collective memory of fans. They should learn how to read between the lines, and—above all—ask pertinent questions. Over to you, dear reader.