MTN Uganda injects UGX 15 million into the veteran’s comeback campaign as Garuga prepares to witness the celebration, the fundraising battle and the arrival of a new machine.
There are rally drivers who win races, others win championships and then there are those whose names become part of the culture of the sport itself. Ponsiano “Mafu Mafu” Lwakataka belongs in the third category.
Twenty-five years after beginning his rallying journey in September 2000, the two-time Uganda National Rally Champion is preparing to celebrate a quarter of a century in motorsport in the only language he truly knows best speed, dust and competition. On 20 September 2026, the Garuga Race Track will become the centre of Uganda’s motorsport fraternity as the Southern Motor Club prepares to stage the Lwakataka @25 Fundraising Sprint but this will be more than a celebration of a decorated career, it could mark the beginning of a completely different Lwakataka era.
MTN joins the comeback
The campaign received another major boost on September 4 when MTN Uganda injected UGX 15 million into Lwakataka’s fundraising drive. The contribution comes shortly after the Ruparelia Group committed UGX 25 million, making MTN the second major corporate backer to publicly support the veteran driver’s quest for new machinery.
Lwakataka is targeting UGX 220 million to acquire the Volkswagen Polo Proto previously driven by the late Rajiv Ruparelia. The Ruparelia contribution reduced the initial gap to UGX 195 million, while MTN’s latest injection pushes the campaign further towards its target and importantly, MTN is not stopping at the cheque. Speaking at the handover, MTN representative Simon Kayiwa announced that fans paying for their Garuga tickets through MoMo Pay will receive a 50% discount, while MoMo Pay users will also enjoy a 20% discount on food and drinks at the venue. The telecom giant is also signalling a wider return to Ugandan motorsport, with a commitment to support FMU events through MoMo Ticketing, bringing digital convenience to fans accessing future competitions.
The Garuga Sprint is being organised by Southern Motor Club, whose president, Godfrey Mayanja, welcomed MTN’s involvement and described the partnership as an important step towards delivering a successful event but beneath the entertainment, the objective remains clear.
The race is raising money.
Every ticket, every sponsor and every contribution moves Lwakataka closer to the machine he believes can return him to the sharp end of the National Rally Championship, this is why Garuga is not simply Lwakataka @25. It is Lwakataka @25 with a mission, and the timing could hardly be more appropriate.
Twenty-five years of making old machinery look dangerous
Lwakataka’s story has never been defined by having the newest or most expensive car, he began rallying at the turn of the millennium and fought his way through the competitive Ugandan scene before becoming one of the country’s most successful drivers.
In 2005, he captured his first National Rally Championship title, two years later, following a difficult 2006 season, he returned to claim the national crown again in 2007. He later added one of the biggest prizes in African rallying to his resume when he won the 2011 Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally with Musa Nsubuga in a Subaru Impreza N8 but perhaps what makes Lwakataka’s legacy so fascinating is what he has continued doing long after those championship seasons.
While modern Proto and R5 machinery transformed Uganda’s rally landscape, Lwakataka continued extracting extraordinary performance from his ageing Subaru Impreza N12B, the car became known as “Musota” the Snake and just like its name suggests, it remained dangerous.
In 2025, despite competing in machinery significantly older than many of the modern cars around him, Lwakataka won four of seven National Rally Championship events before retirements disrupted his title challenge in Rajiv Ruparelia Memorial Rally in Gulu City, that statistic tells the story better than any slogan could. The problem was never the driver. The machinery had simply begun to limit how far the driver could go.
Enter “Akamyu” the Rabbit
Now comes the machine that could change everything, Lwakataka is pursuing the Volkswagen Polo Proto formerly driven by the late Rajiv Ruparelia, a car with both technological and emotional significance.
Rajiv was among the Ugandan drivers who helped popularise Proto machinery and competed against Lwakataka at the highest level. His Volkswagen became one of the recognisable Proto cars on the Ugandan scene before his death. For Lwakataka, bringing the Volkswagen back into competition would therefore do more than upgrade his garage, it would give Rajiv’s former machine another chapter and the technical difference between the Volkswagen and Lwakataka’s old Subaru is where the story gets really interesting.
The Polo Proto is not simply a Volkswagen Polo with a racing sticker, it is a purpose-built competition machine engineered around speed, weight, handling and reliability, powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, with reported output of approximately 280 horsepower with a restrictor—the kind of power that puts it firmly in the modern Proto conversation. It’s display provides critical information such as oil pressure and temperature, while the system can warn the crew when something requires attention. In rallying, horsepower alone does not win stages, a lighter, better-balanced car can brake later, change direction faster and carry greater momentum through corners that is precisely the advantage Lwakataka hopes to unlock.
He has previously described the difference between his old “Snake” and the new machine in almost poetic terms—saying that while the long Subaru could behave unpredictably at the front and rear, the new “Rabbit” should jump in the same direction. For a driver famous for attacking jumps, corners and rough sections with little hesitation, that could be a very important difference.
Lwakataka is not hiding his ambitions, after proving he can win multiple rallies in an ageing N12B, he believes a competitive Proto could put him back into genuine championship contention and that is what makes the Garuga Sprint so intriguing, fans will not only be watching a veteran celebrate 25 years but watching a driver preparing for another assault on Uganda’s rally establishment.
Garuga is the beginning, not the finish
The September 20 sprint is therefore carrying three stories at once, it is a celebration of 25 years of Ponsiano Lwakataka, a fundraising platform to help acquire and prepare the Volkswagen Proto and it is potentially the first public glimpse of the machinery that Lwakataka hopes will power his next championship campaign.
MTN’s entry into the campaign adds another dimension with the company offering discounted access through MoMo Pay and promising wider digital ticketing support for FMU events, the Garuga Sprint is becoming more than a one-day motorsport gathering. It is becoming a meeting point between legacy, technology, corporate support and the next generation of Ugandan rallying and perhaps that is the perfect way to celebrate Lwakataka because his career has never been about standing still.
From motocross to his first rally in 2000 to two national championships, the Pearl of Africa victory to countless battles in the forests. From Musota the Snake to Akamyu the Rabbit, the car and era may be changing but the appetite for speed remains.
On September 20, Garuga will roar, the fans will come and somewhere in the middle of it all will be a 25-year story still being written. Lwakataka has already given Ugandan motorsport championships, victories and unforgettable moments, now he wants to give it another one: a comeback.
What happens when a driver who has spent years making an old Snake look dangerous finally gets a Rabbit built to run?
Garuga may give us the first answer.
And if Lwakataka gets his way, 2027 could be the year the king comes hunting for another crown.
