Pamoja bid: Uganda ran cost-effective campaign 

It is one week since the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations hosting rights were granted to the East Africa region under the Pamoja Bid in Cairo by CAF Executive Committee.

The development has caused a combination of excitement, delirium, anticipation and condescension in equal measure in football quarters and sections of the population. But as the dust settles, the reality is that Uganda has now embarked on multifaceted preparations to stage, along with neighbours Kenya and Tanzania, what will be the biggest sports tournament on the soil of each of the three countries.

Uganda’s bidding committee, which was steered by Fufa president Moses Magogo, operated a cost-effective campaign with total expenses within considerable range.

“We did all the work we did in the Pamoja bid with no government vote,” Rogers Byamukama, a member of the Pamoja Bid Team, told The Observer.

He couldn’t offer a definitive figure on the amount expended. Byamukama noted that internally they debated whether or not to use a consultant to prepare the bid document, before agreeing to put together their best brains in the Ugandan Bid Team to work on the proposal, which would later be shared and joined with that of Kenya and Tanzania.

“We were careful not to pursue the bidding at a high cost because we didn’t have the money, yet we wanted to convince the Caf executive that we were ready, along with our East African brothers and sisters.

“We actually operated on monies from the federation coffers and tried to get the most we could in how we lobbied for our position together with our counterparts.”

The bid team consisted of Fufa Executive Committee members Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, Ronnie Kalema, Rogers Byamukama, Rogers Mulindwa, first vice president Fufa president Justus Mugisha and second vice president Darius Mugoye.

The other two members were Decolas Kizza and Sumaya Kiwanuka, who are both employees of the federation. The nine-man team made a series of flights to Cairo, where the Caf headquarters are and to both Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda also had to host inspection teams from Caf who flew into the country along with the Bid teams from Kenya and Tanzania.

There was also a retreat, involving the Bid Committee teams of all three countries, at Silver Springs hotel in Kampala that meticulously analyzed the status of each country’s preparedness ahead of the decisive date of September 27.

It ought to be noted that the Pamoja Bid was vetted as a one-country bid and any one country’s weakness would have affected the other two East African nations.

Uganda promised to construct two stadiums in Hoima and Lira in the bidding document as well as guarantees of an improved transport system. More hotels – of Caf standards – will also have to be erected to be in time for the tournament that will last just under one month in 2027.