Uganda Finally Back on the Continental Rally Map After 26 Years of Waiting
By Mwambazi Lawrence
Ugandans are not new to waiting. They’ve waited for roads to be fixed, waited for power to come back after “Yaka has gone,” waited for Arsenal to win the Premier League, and even waited for Sanyu FM to play a song request that never arrives. But perhaps the most painful waiting room of all has been in African motorsport. where Uganda’s last African Rally Championship (ARC) title was won in 1999 by the late, great Charles Muhangi alongside co-driver Steven Byaruhanga..
From Uganda to the continent they are Africa’s finest (Photo by Johnson Were)
Yes, 1999! That’s not just a year it’s practically a lifetime. That’s the year when phones still had antennas, when “Titanic” was making people cry in cinemas, and when some of today’s rally fans were not even ideas in their parents’ minds. Think about it: a baby born in that year is now old enough to have finished university, found a job (hopefully), gotten married, and produced another baby who is probably old enough to ask, “Daddy, why does Arsenal keep breaking your heart?”
Presenting to you the 2025 African Rally champion driver Yasin Nasser (Photo by Innocent Mutaawe)
And yes, that’s exactly how long Ugandans have waited for another ARC crown. The drought has been so long, it almost feels like Arsenal’s barren years without a Premier League title. (And trust me, Arsenal fans are already triggered reading this.) or perhaps, this drought was like sitting in a taxi that promises to leave “when it’s full,” only for the conductor to keep shouting “ayise omu!” for 26 years straight.
Fast forward to 2013, when Jas Mangat, the man many Ugandans pinned their hopes on, came agonizingly close. He was cruising, the calculators were calculating, and the fans were rehearsing celebrations. But alas! Zambia’s Jassy Singh snatched the crown in the last stages in Madagascar, leaving Ugandans heartbroken like a guy whose crush just called him “bro.”
The 2025 African Rally Champion codriver Ali Katumba (Photo By Innocent Mutaawe)
But Uganda doesn’t give up. Enter Yasin Muktah Nasser, the gentleman who has been poking and knocking at the ARC door for years. This time, with Ali Katumba calling the pacenotes, the duo in their Ford Fiesta R5 finally broke the jinx. They’ve written their names in African motorsport history with bold ink no pencil, no eraser. Uganda is back on the big table, baby!
And here’s a little food for thought. Just recently, the President of Uganda pledged 1.2 billion shillings for every Uganda Cranes win during the CHAN games. If football can get that kind of presidential handshake, surely it’s about time motorsport arguably Uganda’s biggest international sporting ambassador right now gets its own turbo injection of support. After all, it’s not every day you wait 26 years for continental glory.
And so, as the dust settles on the 2025 African Rally Championship, one truth shines brighter than the headlights on a rally car at midnight: dreams delayed are not dreams denied. For 26 long years Uganda waited, stumbled, and hoped and now, at last, triumph has arrived through the grit of Yasin Nasser and the voice of Ali Katumba. Their journey reminds us that persistence can outlast despair, that passion can silence doubt, and that belief can carry you across any finish line. To every young dreamer watching from the roadside, let this be proof that Uganda does not just participate we can conquer, we can inspire, and we can rise to greatness again.
So, ladies and gentlemen, let it be sung, let it be shouted: Uganda, through Yasin Nasser and Ali Katumba, are the 2025 African Rally Champions!
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