The delayed construction of sports facilities in Nairobi continues to be a hot debate and more so because of the lack of facilities to host both Kenyan Premier League and National Super League matches, not to mention regional leagues.

Nairobi City Stadium, which has since been renamed Joe Kadenge Stadium, has been a hotbed of concern due to the confusion that has mired its upgrading from when Evans Kidero was the governor before Mike Sonko and now Johnson Sakaja.

Recently, Sakaja said he is steadfast in acquiring the right contractor if he is to achieve his goals of revamping sports infrastructure in Nairobi after which did groundbreaking at City Stadium while naming one Mr Jamal Ibrahim of Total Sports Empire to be in charge of the total overhaul of the facility and transform it to international standards at a tune of Sh600 million.

But come to think of it: Did the city’s prime administrator take the trouble of informing the public of the contractor’s credentials before handing him one of the most sensitive jobs in his portfolio?

While we cannot question Sakaja’s choice until he clears the air on the appointment, its manifest that a contractor must be a holder of National Construction Authority Certificate 1 or 2. Does Mr Ibrahim, a renowned football agent, hold any of these to win the confidence of City Hall?

Again, there is a Public Procurement Act that requires that all public jobs should be advertised. Was the job advertised?

These burning questions are the ones that go in tandem with the fact that there are a lot of contradictions in City Hall as far as building new stadiums and repairing existing ones are concerned.

Granted, this implies that work is actually cut out for Sakaja. It can be recalled that in 2021, the county government said it was seeking a new contractor to build three stadiums in the capital following the fiasco at Dandora Stadium.

The County Government threatened to rip off the contractor for Dandora Stadium and award it to a new contractor should the current one then delay resuming work even as work on three other facilities including Kihumbuini, Kawangware, and Ziwani was awarded to Scanjet Limited at a cost of Sh1.3 million.

The governorship has since changed hands but it is imperative that Sakaja comes out clear on whether the leverage remains in his tenure.