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Government pushes to host East Africa school championships

Government pushes to host East Africa school championships
East Africa (EA) secondary schools’ games boys’ hockey champions and golf medalists Musingu High School display the winner’s trophy in 2024. PHOTO/Print

Kenya’s Ministry of Education and national schools sports officials have kicked off a critical four-day inspection of sports infrastructure in Kakamega and Eldoret, aiming to secure the country’s readiness to host the 2025 East Africa Secondary Schools Championships, a regional contest expected to draw top teams from Malawi, South Sudan, Burundi and Ethiopia.

The high-profile team of Ministry of Education and national Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) officials, led by Nelson Situma and David Ngugi respectively, arrived in Kakamega Town a day earlier and began the sports infrastructure assessment exercise on Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview with People Sports, national KSSSA Secretary General Ngugi said the combined Ministry of Education and KSSSA team will assess the suitability of Bukhungu Stadium and schools located in Kakamega Town to host the 2025 Federation of Eastern Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSA) Championship, before moving to Eldoret City to undertake a similar exercise.

“However, before the combined sports infrastructure team arrived in Kakamega, we had received unconfirmed reports that Bukhungu Stadium may be unavailable to host the EA Schools Games due to ongoing renovations at the facility in preparation for the AFCON Championship. We are now in Kakamega to verify the report and assess the stadium’s suitability for the games,” Ngugi said.

Ngugi also noted that Kakamega Town has been identified and considered to host the Term Two FEASSA Games since the Western Region’s key town failed to do so in 2020 following the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“Primary schools, Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), and Special Needs Schools teams, which will qualify after their national competitions in July this year, will also participate and compete during the upcoming East Africa Schools Championship,” Ngugi disclosed.

Ngugi said school teams from Malawi, SSD, Burundi, and Ethiopia are also expected by FEASSA to come and compete during the EA Schools Championship.

“School teams from Malawi participated and competed during the EA Schools Competition at two different periods in Tanzania, one being in the year 2022,” Ngugi recalled.

However, Ngugi mentioned that although the FEASSA Secretariat expects school teams from Ethiopia to come and participate during the EA Games, the federation has experienced challenges in contacting officials in the neighbouring country involved in schools championships, adding that “in the case of Ethiopia, we don’t know who exactly to contact.”

In a separate, earlier interview with this writer, national KSSSA Assistant Secretary General Qunito Omusugu explained the sports infrastructure assessment exercise by the combined Ministry of Education and schools championship team entails assessing the suitability of sports facilities identified for hosting the EA Games.

“Apart from assessing sports facilities in Kakamega Town, the infrastructure assessment team will also assess the neighbouring Mumias Sports Complex. In addition to assessing venues to host the games, the team will assess the availability of accommodation facilities for participating school teams,” Omusugu said.

Omusugu continued to state that “the assessment team will also assess the availability of transport, hotels and hospitality facilities, security apparatus to guard the games, the state of Kakamega Referral Hospital, related health facilities, and also determine the level of County Government of Kakamega involvement in the schools championship.”

Meanwhile, according to a Kenya Ministry of Education circular dated April 25, 2025, titled Change of Venues for National Term II Games and Federation of East Africa Sports, from the State Department for Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, a copy of which was availed to People Sports, the schools championship is scheduled to commence on July 26 with a referee clinic, the opening ceremony on July 28, and conclude on August 3.

According to the circular, the championship will feature Primary Schools, JSS, and Secondary Schools. Earlier, sources close to the national KSSSA Secretariat informed People Sports the FEASSA Championship was scheduled to be held in Nakuru City on the same dates.

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