Speaker of Parliament Anitah Among has tasked Minister of State for Sports Peter Ogwang to provide accountability regarding the Shs97 billion spent on the renovations of Namboole Stadium, following the latest inspection report by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) indicating that the current works being done by the UPDF Engineering brigade are below the required standard.
During today’s parliament session chaired by Speaker Among, she revealed that Uganda Cranes is likely to again host home games away from Uganda.
“This is a very serious issue. All Ugandans have been excited about AFCON, but at the same time, there is no way we can go and play in another country. Remember, we are supposed to play with Algeria in June. However, Morocco has offered us to play in Morocco for free, but Algeria has refused to go to Morocco due to their issues. So, what is the way forward?” said Among.
Shadow Minister for Sports Kayemba Geofrey Solo re-emphasized that Namboole Stadium will not be ready to host the next Uganda Cranes games in June.
“It’s so sad that this country is continuing to lose a lot of finances due to incompetence. We need no apologies this time,” he said.
However, while responding to the MPs, Denis Hamson Obua, the Government Chief Whip and former Sports Minister, stated that there is an ongoing meeting being held by Minister Ogwang, Markson Oboth, Minister of Defence who is representing UPDF, and other officials. He also invited MPs to inspect the works done so far at Namboole.
A section of MPs has called for the resignation of all individuals behind the alleged shoddy works at Namboole and also demanded a detailed explanation of what went wrong during the renovation works.