Walk the talk on state of stadiums
By Editorial.Team, October 6, 2023Kenyan football has never resonated well with previous governments than the current one led by President William Ruto. The President has declared his full commitment to having stadiums that meet international standards ready ahead of the country joining Tanzania and Uganda in hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
The deal came after Kenya submitted a joint bid together with the two neighbouring countries dubbed the ‘Pamoja bid’ which beat proffers from Botswana, Senegal and Egypt.
It must be acknowledged that this is certainly music to football enthusiasts who have been starved of high-profile matches in the country since they last feasted their eyes on the 4th All Africa Games held in Nairobi in 1987.
After successfully hosting the event, Kenya had another chance to host the crème-de=la crème of Africa, this time the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996 but this failed miserably due to a lack of facilities that meet the threshold.
For a lengthy time, Kenyan football lovers have borne the brunt of being taken for a golden goose chase by previous governments who have assured that there would be no letdown in the construction of state-of-the-art facilities to the satisfaction of the Confederation of African Football as well as Fifa. During his tenure as Deputy President, Ruto said most of the stadiums would be under construction and that the same would be completed before 2022.
Well, that did not happen and this was attributed to strained resources and court tussles pitting the government against contractors.
We must now let bygones be bygones and bear in mind that for Kenya to co-host the 2027 is a God-given chance that we cannot afford to let slip away from our fingers. And rightly so, especially after Cabinet endorsed the construction of a new 60,000-capacity stadium dubbed Talanta Stadium at Jamhuri Park, let the government walk the talk to make it ready within the 24-month period that CAF has set as the deadline to complete all infrastructure ahead of the hosting.
To this end, it behooves Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to ensure that the stadium is ready to supplement Moi International Sports Centre and Nyayo Stadium which are set to undergo rehabilitation to serve as alternative match venues