Kamariny facelift resumes ahead of Mashujaa Day celebrations

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The iconic Kamariny Stadium is expected to play host to competition and once again serve as a training ground for top athletes, from October 2026.

Kamariny, whose construction began in 2017, has been serving as a grazing field since 2020, but construction machines have once again roared as plans to host this year’s Mashujaa Day national celebrations at the facility gather pace.

The decision to hold the October 20 national celebrations there has been credited for the stepping up of construction works at the sports facility.

For that reason, Kamariny Stadium, which is located in the Mecca of global athletics, is slowly taking shape as efforts to regain its fame as a training and competition facility resume after years of serving as a grazing field during a decade of stalling.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor’s Football Cup, which is slated for later in the year, will be among the first events to be played in the refurbished stadium.

According to the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the upgrade of Kamariny Stadium had gobbled up Sh87 million by 2024 but still remained deserted.

Sports enthusiasts hope the pace of Kamariny facelift will match that of Wajir Stadium that hosted Madaraka Day fete on Monday, June 1.

If the latest promise to complete the stadium by October is delivered, then athletics stars will have an eight-lane modern track to train and compete on, while footballers and field events athletes will benefit from a pitch and equipment, respectively.

The Kamariny Stadium upgrade contract had been terminated in 2020 after the contractor was blamed by authorities for constantly running behind schedule, causing the iconic facility situated on the outskirts of Iten to stall.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich gave an assurance earlier this week that the stadium will be ready ahead of the Mashujaa Day national event in October.

“We inspected the ongoing construction of Kamariny Stadium, which is expected to host the event (Mashujaa Day),” Rotich said.

He added: “We have held a preparatory meeting to ensure that the national celebration is staged at Kamariny Stadium, which will be complete before the national event.”

In January 2024, while in Iten, President William Ruto promised to immediately commence the completion of the stalled stadium which was demolished nine years ago for an upgrade to international standards.

Last week, the governor, who is leading a multi-agency team to get Kamariny ready for sporting shows and the national event, said, "This year’s Governor’s Cup will be bigger. The final will be played at the iconic Kamariny Stadium.”

Athletics stars who have carried the hopes of Kenyans at international arenas and shattered records that weren’t expected to be broken in our lifetime are set to receive state honours in a stadium that produced heroes such as 800m world record holder David Rudisha, Kenyan-born Qatari legend Saif Shaheen (born Stephen Cherono), who held the men’s 3000m steeplechase record for 19 years, among others.

While the facelift was stalling, athletes travelled to training grounds in Tambach within Elgeyo Marakwet County as others moved to Eldoret in the neighbouring Uasin Gishu for their speed works.

Kamariny was among ten stadiums that were expected to have been upgraded to modern facilities by 2018 but remained eyesores years after their planned completion deadlines.

The 2023-2024 Auditor General’s report raised the red flag over construction works in the stadium, considered as one of the oldest facilities in the country.

“Sports Kenya management awarded a contract for the construction of 15,000-seater stadium complete with a standard football field, borehole and associated water storage facilities, electrical and mechanical works and eight-lane track with field events facilities at the stadium at a contract sum of Sh287,837,775 on September 6, 2017,” the Auditor General found.

The report further says: “As at June 30, 2024 an amount of Sh87,140,833 or 30 percent of the contract sum, had been paid to the contractor. However, the construction had stalled since 2017 while the contractor was not on site.”

In October 2023, the Cabinet said in a dispatch from Kisumu that it would fast-track the delivery of the proposed state-of-the-art sports facilities.