Progress Conquers Backwardness At Nakivubo Modern Stadium

The hitherto maligned job of developing old Nakivubo Stadium into a modern, decent, and much
the better sports facility is steadily and quickly taking shape with just a few pockets of spoilers and
busybodies of the said development still at it.

Rising from the Ashes

From the outlook of Nakivubo, one with a fat sense of humor can now jokingly send out a notice
to the organizers of AFCON 2027, alerting them to warm up for the official opening of the stadium for the games to start.  On a serious note, inspectors from CAF jetted into the country in July, passing a vote of confidence in the ongoing works at Nakivubo Sports facility, potentially brightening Uganda’s bid of hosting some of the upcoming AFCON 2027 games given that the new stadium is expected to be officially declared open early next year.

From what was a museum piece made worse by archaic facilities and lack of them plus a water-logged soccer pitch, Roko financed by Ham Enterprises, is expertly and painstakingly putting up together in its stead an eye-catching football modern sports facility billed to seat more than twenty thousand fans once complete. Yet all that superb work was fated to go to waste right from the word go as forces of
backwardness fought forces of progress, modernity and development. In that regard, distracting noise centered on malice, irrationality and general lack of information worsened by natural challenges had conspired to try and rewind back the story of Nakivubo to the former Stadium’s eyesore and archaic status from the nice story of Nakivubo’s beautification.

Ham’s Triumph

Ham’s commendably strong determination and very dependable sources of funds credibly helped
not to give all that any gap let alone any slight chance to exploit to spoil the superb job and, as such, Ugandans can afford to dream of realization of what had for many years looked like an elusive dream with regards to the fresh and modern pitch. Vendors incited by politicians had initially also resisted to give way for the Stadium’s beautification and expansion works as they forgivably tried to stick to their market but which was already a ramshackle and hence not fit for the purpose. That impasse set off a negative campaign until after the vendors credibly peacefully left the place and the works started.

Another stumbling block were the former sports personalities forgivably fighting to stick to what
they thought or had been made to believe was an irreplaceable piece of treasure which nobody
was supposed to substitute with another decent and much better sports facility for use and the
benefit of the present generation and others after them. That group organized themselves into a litigious and busy body group and moved to court as they attempted to stop but what had already been cleared by the Stadium’s Board, the Kampala Capital City Authority and the President himself on behalf of the government and citizens of Uganda.

Unforeseen Challenges

Predictably, all what that group benefited from what was regrettably a wastage of their money paid to their lawyers and precious time since their cases were demonstrably evidently frivolous right from the word go and hence hard for anyone to use them to secure court victory. Especially recall also that the president had signed off the crucial clearance, permitting Ham Enterprises to start the works after all the rest of the concerned authorities had approved the commencement of the project. As the job progressed without much hitches, Covid 19, alas, paid a rude and forgettable visit to Uganda, shutting down the entire country and businesses for the next two years, leading to suspension of the works at the stadium.

Be that as it was, some critics all the same unreasonably blamed the subsequent delays at Nakivubo on Roko and the developer, but which delays had been occasioned by Covid 19 itself and not the developer nor Roko. Judging from the fact that Covid 19 was a natural occurrence, if I may ask,” how did anyone
expect the engineers of Roko plus the developer to wield powers capable of controlling and stopping that scourge?”

Blaming the Unblamable

No prize for guessing, not only was such kind of talk reckless but also malicious since no right-thinking human being could expect another human being to stop and control a natural occurrence except may be the scientists but who were also unable to do so, moreover, by the time of the suspension of the works. Roko itself had not complained of non-payment by Ham Enterprises, neither was the developer to blame for the suspension of the works nor was Roko since no one of the two had invented Covid 19 with the intention of occasioning the suspension of the works.

For emphasis’s sake, changes in architectural designs and Covid 19 are what majorly were responsible for interference with the progress of the works and so it was clearly malicious, unreasonable and misguided to scapegoat most especially the developer since he isn’t a technical person in the field of construction.

Battle of Narratives

Fortunately, with Covid 19 out of the way, the developer plus the contractor quickly regrouped, resuming the works on the way to the impressive stage where the Stadium has reached currently. Provisional clearance by CAF also shockingly triggered rants and noise from Uganda’s so-called soccer and construction experts about how there was no way the same CAF was going to permit the revamped Nakivubo Stadium to host its own commissioned matches. 

Now such kind of talk was unnecessary and premature, putting into account the fact that CAF’s own very technical inspectors had just inspected the works and gave the works a clear bill of confidence. ” So where were those busybodies getting the audacity of daring to question that which had been stated by the technical people of CAF in regard to the suitability and validity of the works they had inspected at Nakivubo?

Therefore, as I wind up, the developments at the Nakivubo Sports facility have been a product of the
struggle between forces of modernity and progress against defenders of, soldiers of and supporters of backwardness. 

Thank you all for reading and keep the faith.