Namwamba picks lessons in Morocco

Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has revealed that Kenya and Morocco will sign a Memorandum of Understanding in one-month time after the two nations agreed on areas of cooperation.

Namwamba, accompanied by the Kenya Academy of Sports Chief Executive Officer Doreen Odhiambo was in Morocco last week on official duty after being invited by his counterpart Chakib Benmoussa, Minister for Education and Sports in the Kingdom of Morocco.

While in Rabat, Minister toured several sporting facilities and monitored Morocco’s way of preparations as the North African nation gets ready to host next year’s African Cup of Nations and the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

“I have had a brilliant trip to Morocco and we wanted to compare notes since Morocco is hosting the African Cup of Nations next year and will be passing the button to East Africa for AFCON 2027.Therefore we wanted to see how we can support each other,” Ababu told People Sport.

Morocco’s superb sporting infrastructure mesmerised him, especially the Prince Mouley Abdella Stadium that is currently under construction after being pulled down. The multi-purpose stadium was built in 1983 and had a capacity of 45,000 spectators. Now, it is getting a new, state-of-the-art facelift and its seating area will be ballooned to 69,000.

Namwamba expressed his delight after sealing a deal for cooperation with Morocco beyond the African Cup of Nations.

“We have agreed to work together beyond the African Cup of Nations. We have agreed for instance; to twin the Kenya Academy of Sports and the King Mohammed VI Academy so that they can run and exchange programs. We have also agreed to twin federations to work together in sync in various fields such as athletics, football and much more. Morocco also has a brilliant school sports program and Kenya has the same in terms of talent development at the school level. We have further agreed to work together in areas of sports infrastructure development and management,” he stated.

ogram that we have here in Kenya involving our legends like Musa Otieno,Allan Wanga and co is being embraced by Morocco. I was visiting the Academy in Rabat; I met quite a number of Moroccan greats who have been tapped to help in shaping the future stars of the country.In conclusion,we have agreed on a number of things and the MoU should be ready by next month and I look forward to signing it.”