Next year Uganda co-hosts the Africa Cup of Nations alongside Kenya and Tanzania in a historic first for the East African region. The Hoima City Stadium in Bunyoro has been commissioned and the Akii Bua Stadium (with current photo attached below) in Lira is also under speed construction as part of the country's AFCON infrastructure drive. Also, just weeks ago, Pece War Memorial Stadium site in Gulu City was handed over to UPDF Engineering Brigade as part of the wider sports infrastructure development ahead of the competition.
All these regions are watching their skylines change while their most productive neighbor, West Nile watches from the sidelines. No AFCON venue. No competition worthy government-funded stadium. The continent's biggest football fiesta is knocking and the sub-region with arguably the most passionate football culture in Northern Uganda, if noth the whole country has nothing gleaming and new to show for it now or after the PAMOJA wave is gone. That should sting every West Niler who has ever experienced playing in our usually dusty pitches painfully, right?!
The picture is not entirely bleak though. Sports infrastructure has slowly been finding its way into West Nile in pieces. President Museveni commissioned the Leju Stadium (drone ahot, below) in Terego District in October 2025 and the World Bank funded another sports complex in Madi Okollo under its infrastructure grant for refugee-hosting districts. The Ajai Stadium in Madi Okollo and Leju Stadium in Terego are modest community-level facilities but they are something that might at most host only FUFA Drum games, sadly! Meanwhile at the heart of Arua City a much bigger dream sits half-built and overgrown. The Arua Hill Stadium and Business Park on Pakwach Road remains the crown jewel West Nile has been waiting for but cannot yet wear.
Credit where it is due. Eng Jaffer Joel Aita (in photo below) through his company Development Infrastructure entered a 49-year Public Private Partnership with Arua City Council to construct a 20,000-seater stadium complex on 8.4 acres when nobody else was bold enough to dream it. The complex is planned to include residential and commercial components and a shopping mall making it a full urban lifestyle destination, not just a sports venue. Close to 8 billion shillings from business partners remains outstanding and Eng. Joel has reportedly been seeking contracts outside Uganda just to funnel funds back into the project. That is the sacrifice of a fervent builder. The stadium sitting right at the entry of Arua City near the monument roundabout on Pakwach Road when complete will be the first thing visitors see when arriving and the last thing lingering in their minds as they depart. A stadium with a mall, a hotel, restaurants, banks and parking for 300 vehicles greeting you at the city gates.
Close your eyes and imagine it. That same Arua Hill playground where children played barefooted at now hosting a floodlit international football. The terraces packed with spectators in full voice. The Uganda Cranes taking on Cameroon in a friendly right there in Arua City. Some young Cameroonian striker dribbling past our defenders under those lights while the crowd erupts in the kind of noise only a West Nile fans can produce. You know that argument started by that Aringa brother seated at the next seat still wearing his Onduparaka FC 2016 Discovery-era classic jersey or a cocktail of football fans like KCCA's Khassim teaming with both NEC's VAR Akena and Villa's Bilangilangi at this one time all in the same camp, supporting Uganda Cranes in West Nile! That would be absolutely insane in the best possible way.
The region has produced talent for decades but has never had a stage worthy of it. Arua Hill Stadium was always supposed to be that stage, if our leaders can't still really lobby for a Dorcus Inzikuru Stadium, (not one at the standard of the other abandoned stand in Barifa forest.)
Lawrence 'Dangote' Alionzi was declared Mayor-elect of Arua City in January 2026 and has this week been sworn in as the city's new mayor running on a platform of youth empowerment, infrastructure and better service delivery. Sources close to the his camp say Eng. Joel strongly backed his campaign and the timing of the investor's recent X reply promising to plan stadium resumption after dealing with his political battles tells its own story in support of that claim. It appears the man had not just abandoned building the stadium but also had to put first a firm foot at the City Hall.
With Alionzi now in the mayor's office and Eng. Joel signaling a fresh start, the question of what comes next for Arua Hill is more alive than it has been in years. West Nile has been left out of the biggest conversations long enough and this stadium deserves to be finished and celebrated. Whatever the case, we shall be waiting and will as always love the best for our region.
Fingers crossed.
