The Stadium that never was...

 

The stadium that never was…

Bushenyi district famously known to be a model district was blessed to have had the dream of having one of the modern football stadiums which ended up an illusion. Boma ground was the location that was demarcated to accommodate the highly thought of stadium.

Ugandans might be divided in many areas of life like tribes, languages, and beliefs but sports bring the whole world together and believe in one ideology, Uganda is no exception to this.

It should be noted that Uganda as a country does not have many up to standard stadiums when we get to compare with many countries in Africa. But surprisingly even when we have a chance to have such modern infrastructure it’s averted by the contractors themselves!

Haba group of companies owned by the famous business man Hassan Bassajabalabba was given the contract worth shs 900million to construct a stadium in Bushenyi district which up to now is an illusion to the residents of the model district.

In July 2010 West Ankole CSO Forum (then Bushenyi District CSO Forum) wrote to the CAO requesting him to provide copies of the documents containing information relating to; Contracts executed for the development of Bushenyi District stadium, Bills of quantities in relation to stadium development, Architectural plans for the stadium project, Certificates provided by the contractor, Details of payments so far made and Status reports of developments thus far.

The CAO who had ignored the request and thus refusing to provide the above information which was a  violation of the provisions of the Access to Information,2005 later released the information containing the architectural plan of the stadium, the 4 certificates of completion, contract agreement with bills of quantities, and the completion plan of the stadium.

The information released showed that in the agreement between the District and Haba Group, Haba group was paid 906,874,020 (Nine hundred million eight hundred seventy four thousand twenty shillings) and extra 40,000,000 which he won from the court on ground that the District breached the contract. Further the information got showed that there are 4 certificates of completion which a company called Space plan consults prepared showing all the four stages and the District went ahead and cleared. Now the “stadium” is only at the second phase where the soil has been leveled, but this is being done by a new company.

This was one opportunity for the district to develop and increase on its source of income. With a better facility in the district, the local community would get increased income through small markets and consumption from the sports fans and increased tourism at the end of the day, increasing the number of job opportunities in the district leading to development.

At this rate it’s every citizen’s mandate to be transparent and accountable in order to achieve the change that we really want to see in Uganda. Let the responsible people account and show us value for money instead of ripping off the scarce resources drawn from tax payers.

Sports have sold Uganda internationally, and this anticipated stadium was one way of encouraging its growth. We need to see the stadium up and running for the growth of Bushenyi district.

This is the state of the stadium as of August 2011

By Adellah Agaba