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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Ready for event: Machakos welcomes tourney, Nakuru also one of the venues

Football

By -DANIEL NZIA AND BEN AHENDA | Nov 27, 2013

BY DANIEL NZIA AND BEN AHENDA

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua leads County Government executive members during the opening of Machakos Stadium on Saturday. Machakos’ Kenyatta Stadium will be one of the venues to host Cecafa tournament starting today. [PHOTO: DANIEL NZIA / STANDARD]

Burundi and Somalia play their opening Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup Group B match in Machakos tomorrow.

The two teams will clash at the refurbished Kenyatta stadium at 2pm before Tanzania take on Zambia from 4pm at the same venue.

For the first time in the country’s history, the town that was the first capital of Kenya will host an international football tournament.

Sudan will take on Eritrea from 2pm with Uganda fighting it out with Rwanda from 4pm on Friday.

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The new-look stadium was launched last Saturday by the Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua, who led his County Executive football team to a 1-0 win over the County Assembly counterparts.

The governor announced that adequate security measures backed by CCTV cameras have been put in place.

“We have installed more than 40 CCTV cameras in and around the stadium in addition to police surveillance to ensure maximum security during the Cecafa matches”, assured Dr Mutua.

Dr Mutua announced that the stadium will host eight preliminary matches.

Residents interviewed welcomed the hosting of the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup in the town, saying it would boost the town’s economic status during the tournament.

Meanwhile, Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium is one of the main venues of the Senior Challenge Cup, Football
Kenya Federation (FKF) President Sam Nyamweya confirmed yesterday.

Nyamweya said the facility would host some of the matches without
specifying whether it would start at the preliminaries or quarter-final stages.

This comes after an aggressive campaign by Nakuru County Government
led by Governor Kinuthia Mbugua who over the weekend appealed to
Nyamweya to give Afraha Stadium some regional matches. Yesterday, Nyamweya confirmed that the Cecafa Local Organising Committee had approved the request by Nakuru County
Government.

“I can today confirm Afraha Stadium will host some of the matches,”
he said on telephone.

This follows refurbishment of the stadium that has seen its
dressing and washrooms renovated and grass re-planted and the floodlights repaired after earlier been vandalised and
electrical cables stolen.

The previous wooden wire mesh perimeter fence was also brought down
and replaced with a brick wall around the stadium.

The total cost of the renovations is estimated at Sh15 million, sources in the Nakuru County Government said.

Cecafa Secretary General, Nicholas Musonye, said they have lined up four matches to be played at the venue.

“The Local Organising Committee has approved Afraha Stadium to host the regional tournament and, for now, we are preparing its logistics,” he said.

TODAY’S FIXTURES:

Zanzibar v South Sudan (Nyayo National Stadium);

Kenya v Ethiopia (Nyayo National Stadium)