A recent Facebook post featuring a video purporting to show the progress of Mandera Stadium in Northeastern Kenya has been debunked as false by PesaCheck. The post, which has been shared widely, claims that the stadium is 50% complete and showcases modern sporting facilities being brought closer to the people of Mandera. The video shows a group of people wearing lime-green reflective jackets and white safety helmets touring the stadium.
However, a thorough investigation by PesaCheck revealed that the video does not show the Mandera Stadium in Kenya. The people in the video are wearing reflective jackets bearing the initials UPDF, which stand for the Uganda People’s Defense Forces. This raised the first red flag, indicating that the video may not be related to the Mandera Stadium.
A Google reverse image search of one of the video’s keyframes led PesaCheck to a X post by a Ugandan journalist who shared the clip under investigation. According to the X post, the video shows the construction progress of Mandela National Stadium in Namboole, Uganda. The journalist noted that the video was taken on 5 October 2026 when the Parliament Committee on Education and Sports visited the Mandela National Stadium.
The Parliament Committee on Education and Sports visited the Mandela National Stadium as part of their continued assessment of Uganda’s sports facilities ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. The Committee is assessing the progress and readiness of key sports infrastructure as Uganda, alongside Kenya and Tanzania, prepares to host the continental showpiece. Nine stadiums across the three host countries are earmarked for the 2027 AFCON, scheduled from 19 June to 17 July.
Construction of the new 10,000-seat Mandera Stadium was scheduled to begin in June 2026. However, no official photos of its construction progress are available. This raises questions about the authenticity of the video shared on Facebook, which claimed to show the progress of the Mandera Stadium.
PesaCheck has looked into the Facebook post with a video purporting to show the progress of Mandera Stadium in Northeastern Kenya and found it to be FALSE. This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. The public can report suspicious content on Facebook, and PesaCheck provides deeper insight and context to posts seen in social media feeds.
Key points
- The video shared on Facebook shows the construction progress of Mandela National Stadium in Namboole, Uganda, not Mandera Stadium in Kenya.
- The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations will be hosted by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, with nine stadiums earmarked for the event.
- Construction of the new Mandera Stadium was scheduled to begin in June 2026, but no official photos of its construction progress are available.
