Ghost of undelivered 5 quality stadia still haunting Kenyatta

President Elect Uhuru Kenyatta [Left] and his deputy William Ruto [Right] during their Manifesto launch [PHOTO: COURTESY]

As preparations to swear in President-Elect Uhuru Kenyatta hit the homestretch, memories of what he promised to deliver to Kenyans on his first stab of presidency will still linger. One of the most iconic pledges that the Jubilee party made was to deliver 5 state-of-the art stadia in the country to support the sports industry.

A section of the 2013 Jubilee manifesto on Sports and Culture reads: “ Build five new national stadia in Eldoret, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Garissa while upgrading the existing County sporting facilities to accommodate swimming, tennis, basketball, rugby,”

 The manifesto went ahead to further give a pledge of building youth development centres to support young talents as well as building pitches for various games. This was a dream that would have changed the nature of sports in Kenya. However, as years went by, most of these pledges were unfulfilled. It became one of the most quoted weakness of the regime, whenever critics quote its failures.

Faced with criticism as a constant reminder of the pledge, the treasury released 1.8 B in 2015 to offset the ground breaking and building of five stadia in Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nakuru and Mombasa. But nothing substantial is forthcoming from the efforts. Such a plan was also to culminate in the building of the Nairobi Posta Ground along Ngong road, which was to have science hospital and a mall.

What ensued was a friction between the national government and county governments which had embarked on renovating and building their stadia from scratch. Cabinet Secretary in charge of Sports Dr Hassan Wario, would then insist that county governments were required to contact the ministry before going ahead with the renovation plans.

So far Kisumu County was instrumental in renovating Moi Sports Stadium, Machakos County also embarked on upgrading Machakos Stadium as Mombasa did the same with Mombasa Stadium. Other counties like Narok, Meru among many others also came with renovation plans.

In January 2017, 7 counties entered an agreement with the ministry of Sports and signed a contract of 1.5M, which was to build various stadia such as Kiambu, Tharaka Nithu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Makueni, Nyeri and Marsabit.

A consultancy firm known ‘The Stadium Consultancy’ lists on its website three stadia in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret that it develops under the contract of the government. TSC indicates that the stadium in Nairobi will serve as a rugby pitch with 42,000 seats. The other two in Mombasa and Eldoret are tailored for hosting athletics and they will have 20,000 seats. According to TSC, the project was initiated in 2015 and is still ongoing.

After building 5 stadia proved infeasible for the government, Uhuru administration later embarked on the process of ‘revising’ the manifesto and as a result, the party made a projection of building three stadia in Mombasa, Nairobi and Eldoret.

This downscale on the manifesto would then be reflected the party’s 2017 manifesto launched ahead of the August 8 General Election. The manifesto reads as follows:

 “In the next five years we will…Continue to provide and improve sports facilities by finalising construction of three major new stadia in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret along with the Kenya Academy of Sports. Upgrade regional stadia in Kiambu, Makueni, Elgeyo Marakwet, Marsabit, Nyeri and Chuka.”

While highlighting the achievements of Jubilee government, a statement from the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts mentions renovation of Mombasa Municipal Stadium which is 60% progress pending the tartan tracks. The ministry notes that Moi Stadium in Kisumu is 70% done with floodlights yet to be fixed and Kipchoge Keino Stadium is 90% done.

Reality behind the dilapidated Kenyan facilities was exposed in September 2017 after Kenya lost the rights to host African Nations Cup (CHAN) in 2018, due to unpreparedness. Nonetheless, FKF blamed the political tension during the electioneering period on the set back.

With CECAFA Senior Challenge set to kick off in just one week, Kenya would be desperate for a spotless preparation to keep her image intact among the regional peers.