Nyandarua county residents people are still waiting for the resumption of construction work at the Ol Kalou Stadium, as directed by President William Ruto.

The President, in his last visit to the county promised to help the devolved unit to complete the construction of the stadium whose upgrading to national standard has been on-and-off for the past seven years.

Ruto’s promise that the constructor would be on site in one month raised the residents’ hope tfpr a stadium soon. It was never to be.
Last year, Governor Moses Kiarie Badilisha disclosed that the county had signed an agreement with Sports Kenya to complete the the stadium’s construction work.

The facility, which is meant to be the county’s main sports arena, remains the most conspicuous white elephant in the county since the advent of devolution.

 A spot check by People Sport shows the contractor left the site many months ago and it is not known when the construction will resume.

The contractor was doing track, pitch and drainage work when he suddenly stopped and left due to financial issues. The contract was awarded at the tail-end of the regime of the immediate former governor.

 Athletics Kenya national treasurer David Miano who is also the Central Region chairman appealed to the county government to make the track usable.

“If the track can get a layer of murram, it can be usable and save athletes from around Ol Kalou from travelling to Nyahururu (30 km away) for training,” Miano said recently during the Under-20 track and field meet.

The stadium has gobbled a lot of money since its upgrading started. It received its first allocation of Sh60 million in the 2016/17 budget of the County with the promise of upgrading the facility to “international” standard.

The amount was increased annually in the subsequent budgets. But the more money the stadium is allocated the more it remains the same.

The work has been undertaken by governors Daniel Waithaka (2013-2017) and Francis Kimemia (2017-2022) and now Badilisha.
Despite the County government struggling to complete Ol Kalou stadium, other sub-counties are waiting for the devolved unit to give them stadia to be used by youth to showcase their sporting talent.

During Mashujaa Day celebrations, Ndaragwa Central MCA Mwangi Kagwe demanded upgrading of Mutanga stadium – the venue of the celebrations, to national standard.

The celebrations’ host MCA Milka Wanjiru said 14 teams from her Kiriita Ward use the Mutanga stadium as their only usable venue.
“This stadium is home ground to 14 teams of Kiriita ward and they will appreciate it if the County government can upgrade it,” Wanjiru told Governor Kiarie who was County Mashujaa Day celebration chief guest with County Commissioner Abdirisack Jaldesa.
The Governor accepted a request by Wanjiru to build a pavilion at the stadium.

The Nyandarua North DCC Angeline Were had welcomed the guest to “Mutanga national stadium” at the start of the cer