By Tweheyo Ronald
Lango MPs clashed with officials from the Ministry of Education during a budget presentation at the Parliament’s Committee on Education and Sports over the construction of the Akii Bua stadium to host AFCON 2027.
The MPs demanded that the budget for its construction be included in the 2024/2025 budget, while the Permanent Secretary of Education stated that the stadium was a pledge.
Tensions arose when Ms. Ketty the Education Permanent Secretary indicated that there was an unfunded priority for AFCON of 2.19 trillion Ugx. This amount was required to pay hosting fees and construct two stadia. However, her presentation did not mention the names of the two stadia, which drew criticism from Dr. Samuel Opio Acuti, the member of Parliament for Kole North and representative of the Lango Parliamentary Group.
Acuti questioned why the Ministry of Education had not mentioned the names of the two stadia to be constructed when they were already known. He tabled the official government position on AFCON that the Minister of Education had laid on the floor of Parliament on 3rd October 2023, affirming that Akii Bua was one of the two stadia to host AFCON.
He further showed a copy of the East Africa AFCON bid submitted to CAF that supported his claims of Akii Bua as one of the stadia for AFCON 2027.
He accused the Ministry of Education of backtracking from the government position and informed the meeting that the Akii Bua issue had turned from a hot to a volcanic issue in Lango which could erupt politically at any time. He asked the committee to include the budget for the construction of the Akii Bua stadium in the 2024/2025 budget.
Hon. Etuka Isaac MP for Upper Madi(NRM) described the move to deviate from the official government position in constructing Akii Bua as unfortunate. Hon. Auma Linda, the woman member of Parliament for Lira District and publicity for LPG, informed the meeting that there was widespread dissatisfaction in Lango over the exclusion of Akii Bua from AFCON, and some of the residents had resorted to petitioning CAF. She stated that there was a need for the government to intervene and resolve the impasse.
Hon. Julius Achon, the MP for Otuke East (NRM), decried the failure of the government to celebrate their sports heroes. He questioned whether he, as an Olympian for life, would equally be remembered when the first Olympic gold medallist, John Akii Bua, was still struggling to be remembered, more than 50 years after winning Gold.
In response, the Education Permanent Secretary indicated that the Akii Bua stadium was a pledge and Lira didn’t have any international airport for it to qualify to host AFCON. She added that the government had earlier received funds to construct the Akii Bua stadium but was affected by COVID-19. However, she stated that they had agreed as a Ministry to have funds for the construction of the Akii Bua stadium included in the 2024/2025 budget.
Dr. Acuti asked the Permanent Secretary to explain whether Kampala, which has Nakivubo Stadium, one of the AFCON stadia, has an international airport, noting that Nakivubo Stadium is in Kampala, which has no international airport. It will rely on Entebbe Airport, which is in a different District. Similarly, the Akii Bua stadium will depend on the Gulu Military airbase. Secondly, this is not an issue about a pledge, but a government position to construct the Akii Bua stadium to host AFCON 2027,”He noted.
The Chair of the Committee Hon John Twesigye (NRM) directed the Ministry to go back and harmonize their position on the stadia for AFCON with due consideration of the concerns of the Lango MPs.
