CAF says Kenya will have to show it is ready by August 20

CAF From Left- FkF President Nick Mwendwa, Constant Selemani Omari CAF 2nd Vice President, Kaberia Kirimi PS Ministry of Sports Culture and the Arts (MOSCA0 and Dr Hassan Wario Cabinet Secretary MOSCA at Kasarani Stadium during media briefing ahead of CHAN event to be held in Kenya early next year. Thursday, June 17. 2017. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Kenya has an August 20 deadline to show it will be ready to host next year’s Africa Nations Championships (Chan).

The development came as it emerged that Ivory Coast have declared interest in hosting the event should Kenya not beat the deadline.

Speaking during a media briefing yesterday, Confederation of African Football (CAF) second vice president Seleman Omari said they have given their report to the Government on what needs to be done and hope it can be done by August 20.

“We have been here with my team to see how prepared Kenya are for this tournament. At the end of our inspection, we have given our report to the Government and will come back on August 20 to see the progress,” he said.

Omari however insisted that the tournament is still Kenya’s to host, but was categorical that CAF has to have an alternative venue should the country not be ready to host the January 2018 event.

The CAF delegation has been in Kenya for the last one week and visited all five venues designated to host the tournament. Apart from Kinoru in Meru County and Kasarani, work still needs to be done on the other three venues: Kipchoge in Eldoret, Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos and Nyayo Stadium.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario gave an assurance that the Government will do everything to ensure Kenya is ready to host the event.

He insisted that a lot had been done in the background towards hosting a successful tournament even as he admitted that more needs to be done.

“The truth is that we have a lot to do, but we have been working hard to put everything in motion and now we are ready to move on with the required work. There is goodwill about Kenya hosting this tournament from the highest level of Government,” he said.

He said the Government has already advertised for tenders to upgrade the targeted facilities.

At Nyayo Stadium, the chosen contractor will carry out civil and building works including fixing seats, cabling, plumbing as well as working on the drainage and mechanical installations among others.

Other works at the stadium include bore hole drilling, equipping high and low level water tanks as well as water reticulation and irrigation system.

At Kinoru Stadium which the Meru county government has spent more than Sh300million to build, new seats will be fixed.

The same will also be done at Machakos and Kipchoge Keino. Not much will be done at Kasarani  and only the stadium hotel will be refurbished.

All the contracts are supposed to be given out by July 1 and the winners will have just three months to finish the work.