The Mandela National Stadium commonly referred to as Namboole Stadium is in a financial crisis after four of its tenant failed rent worth Shs1.18 billion.
The major debtors are Fortune Energy Limited owned by Captain Mike Mukula to which Mandela Sports Hotel was outsourced at Shs735 million, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) (Shs150.8 million), Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) (Shs205 million) and Pioneer Easy Bus Limited (Shs91 million).
The Stadium’s Managing Director Jamil Sewanyana listed the debtors in documents he submitted to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
PAC Chairperson Nathan Nandala Mafabi had demanded for the documents, for an inquiry to be carried out following a revelation in the June 2018 Auditor General’s report that the Stadium had accumulated domestic arrears worth Shs875.3 million.
The directive was followed allegations by some lawmakers that there were plans to privatize the Stadium, when Moses Mwase, the Director Privatization Unit in the Finance Ministry told the committee last month that the Stadium had not declared any dividends due to capitalization issues and had not been making profits.
Mwase told MPs that consultations to bring a private developer on board had kicked off and that this would require funds to be availed by government, for the Privatization Unit to carry out an analysis. He said that they were looking at partnering with the Private Sector, because there were no plans of selling it.
