By JOHN NANDWA
What a difference four days can make. To an ardent fan of Kenyan football, the dreadful events at the Westgate shopping mall have carried more repercussions that are reverberating on our football fields.
Ask any fan when the best time to enjoy a local game of football is and the answer invariably would be an evening match played under floodlights.
Not only does the attraction remain strong for attending an evening match during such a serene environment, but the whole concept of playing matches under floodlights was arguably one of Football Kenya Federation’s (FKF) most ingenious ideas to promote growth of the local game.
But amid security concerns following the four-day terrorist siege of the Westgate Mall last weekend, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has decided to ban all subsequent football matches that were being played for fears that they pose a major security risk.
Freedom haters
While this is bad news for supporters of Kenyan football, it is good news for the masterminds behind the Westgate Shopping Mall.
This is because, terrorists love the fact that they have the Kenyan people scared; that is their goal.
The architects of this evil terror assault will be corking champagne at realising their scheme has intimidated the federation into cancelling the evening soccer programme.
It is a fact that terrorists hate Liberty and Freedom. Indeed, while football bears the brunt of the terrorism menace, the big win for those behind the terror scheme in Nairobi is the fact that they will not see happy Kenyans being free, having fun during an evening football match.
Was the drastic action on imposing a blanket ban necessary? Couldn’t it be, that perhaps the best response should have been for football authorities to ask the police to use bomb sniffing dogs whenever a Kenyan premier league match is slotted to be played in the evening?
90-MINUTE TORTUREs
The unmistakable conclusion to be made is that Kenyans having fun at the stadia would be a form of torture to the terrorists living in their safe havens.
Were they to be forced to watch supporters having fun and enjoying liberty, one imagines that they would feel as though they were being tortured. Slowly. Every 90 minutes.
This is why it is laudable that the local football governing body also wants police to institute a special unit, which will specifically be mandated to secure sporting events in the country. Please cross fingers that this proposal will be approved.
Not only will the game benefit from the wider support that would be retained, it would ensure no interruptions to the football calendar.
If such measures are put in place, perhaps the federation could consider lifting the ban on evening matches altogether.
