By James Robert Kayindi
The Uganda Police in coalition with the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) will honour the late John Akii-Bua by setting up a sports facility that will be named after the late athlete.
The development follows an understanding that was reached upon by the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura and the president of UOC, William Blick during a function held at Naguru on Saturday where UOC and police signed a memorandum of understanding.
John Akii-Bua won Uganda’s first ever Olympic gold medal in 1972 (Munich, Germany) in the men’s 400m hurdles. The iconic athlete also won gold and silver medals at the All Africa games in Lagos, Nigeria (1973) and Algiers, Algeria (1978) respectively.
The facility will be constructed at Naguru Police headquarters by UOC in memory of the late gold medalist and a police officer who passed on in 1997.
It will accommodate several sporting activities such as football, rugby, netball, basketball, volleyball, athletics and hotel facilities.
“Let nobody sabotage this project. All the police families currently staying on the land will be relocated to better places soon for the work to start,” Kayihura remarked in regard to the identified 4.1acres of land at Naguru.
“Whatever land you require, we are ready to give you. But we need more than you have in plan at the moment. For instance, make a provision for a shooting range to benefit our policemen. I am happy this is happening during my time and in memory of the great Akii-Bua. This is a historic moment not only for police but the whole country. This is an excellent national project,” Kayihura told Daily Monitor.
According to the UOC president, William Blick, work will start in about two months.
“We have already secured donations in form of a synthetic running track and netball court. We are writing to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for funding and will hold a corporate launch very soon to raise funds locally,” Blick remarked.
The facility will be jointly managed by Police and UOC with national teams given first priority of access for training.
Akii-Bua’s first honor was a stadium in Lira before being demolished for hospital expansions.
Email Robert: Robert.k.circles@gmail.com
