Businessman Hamis Kiggundu announced that FIFA has passed Hamz Stadium Nakivubo Memorial for all football matches. This is the greatest and historic milestone to the Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium following its overhauling at the leadership and financial investment of Kiggundu.
That stadium, home to the modern architecture, reopens in a colourful ceremony aired on NBS Sport as the multi-purpose arena in the heart of Kampala was supposed to be a statement of innovation and progress inspired by one man, the visionary Kiggundu.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, while opening the stadium on 25th April, praised Kiggundu for his foresight and determination for development. “I am impressed by Kiggundu’s “can-do” attitude, saying the businessman had come to symbolize ingenuity that has propelled Uganda’s cause.
I thank Kiggundu because he has showed that ‘yes we can’ attitude not only here but in other projects as well,” Museveni said, emphasizing that in business and development, speed in decision-making is paramount.
The re-development of Hamz Stadium Nakivubo Memorial came because of a sharp business proposal that Kiggundu had brought forward. This is according to Museveni, who says that Kiggundu leased the government asset and invested private money in it to improve it. In return, Kiggundu is to recover his money through revenue collected from the stadium and other businesses on or around it for 49 years.
“If he fails, we boot him; if he succeeds, he profits and Uganda gets a stellar stadium regardless of who runs it,” Museveni added.
In attendance at the ceremony were the Minister of Kampala City, the Executive Director for KCCA, and the Mayor of Kampala Central Division-witness to the beginning of a new chapter in Nakivubo’s life. After FIFA gave the go-ahead, this stadium should have become one of football’s hotbeds among other events that would affix further the important position it occupies within Uganda’s sporting makeup.
