Pece War Memorial stadium, Gulu’s oldest and major sports ground, is finally set for a facelift ahead of 14th edition of the East African Secondary Schools Games (FEASSA) in August this year.
The games to be hosted at St Joseph’s College Layibi will feature athletics, netball, football, volleyball, basketball, rugby, handball, hockey and swimming ,amongst others. Stadiums to be utilised include Gulu High School playground, the Military playground, St. Joseph’s College
Layibi playground and Pece. Pece stadium is the only bare pitch lacking grass, running water, functional dressing room and latrines among other vital
facilities.
The district has been tasked to make major repairs on the sports facility and construct a large swimming pool to host the swimming competition during the games. Aldo Otto, Gulu district sports officer, says major works to rehabilitate the stadium for the East African post-Secondary School Games will cost government Shs 300 million.
Otto says Shs 13 million collected for sports development from schools in the district over the last three years is too little to rehabilitate the stadium. A delegation of Uganda Secondary School Sports Association inspected the stadium for the forthcoming games and made several recommendations to improve the pitch.
Among the recommendations, the stadium should be regraded and fresh grass planted on its bare floor. The other is that the broken fences be fixed and dressing room rehabilitated and equipped with functional sanitary facilities.
Richard Tinkamanyire, the treasurer of Gulu District Football Association, says following the conclusion of Copa Coca-Cola tournament on Wednesday, major rehabilitation works will begin at Pece stadium to equip it for the East African Games.
In its current state, the stadium’s interior perimeter wire fence that was built by charity Northern Uganda Transitional Initiative (NUTI) has been vandalised and large holes poked in many areas.