Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts Hon. Ababu Namwamba has stated that even in the midst of Kenya working round the clock to deliver three quality stadiums necessary for hosting the proposed Africa Cup of Nations in 2027, there remains a deeper need for the country to have such structures in place should the hosting bid go through or not.
Ababu was speaking Wednesday as members of the CAF Delegation and Ministry Officials did inspection visits round three sporting venues to ascertain Kenya’s readiness to host the biennial tournament.
Among the venues they visited were; Moi International Sports Centre – Kasarani, Nyayo National Stadium and the Ulinzi Sports Complex.
“This is not just for AFCON,” Ababu said when asked about the upgrade plans on the said stadia. “Bid or not, Kenya needs international level sporting facilities.
“We are a sporting nation and that’s what defines us as a country. We cannot be a sports country that has lots of heritage and pedigree but lacks the necessary sports facilities and infrastructure.”
In the proposed bid confirmed early this year, Kenya is joined by two other East African countries – Uganda and Tanzania – with whom it is expected that each country provides at least three standard venues.
For Kenya, Moi International Sports Centre – Kasarani, Nyayo Stadium and the Kipchoge Keino Stadium are the presented stadia, with Ababu adding that their works should have been complete by now.
“Whatever we want to do now in terms of upgrading should have been done way before,” Ababu said. “Ideally, all the money that we spent should have been pooled together to upgrade all these facilities.”
On the sidelines of the event was Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa, who insisted that all that mattered was to see Kenya emerge as the hosts of the tournament that also attracted sanctioned bids from Algeria, Botswana and Egypt.
“We just want to be ready,” Mwendwa said. “We are competing with big nations. The delegates have just come from Algeria and they should soon be in Botswana. All that matters to us now is to get ready and hopefully win the rights.”
As it stands, Kenya will also use Kasarani Annex, Utalii grounds, Police Stadium, Ulinzi Stadium and Jamhuri ground as training venues, but according to CAF’s list of pre-approved stadiums for the 2022/23 inter-club football campaign, has no stadium cleared by the continental football governing body to host international matches.
Kenya’s recent attempts in acquiring rights for a continental tournament follows failed bids by the federation in 1996 and 2018 for the Africa Cup of Nations and African Championships (CHAN) tourneys respectively due to the lack of standard stadia in the country.
Thursday will see the delegates and officials visit the Kipchoge Keino Stadium, University of Eldoret Grounds and the Eldoret Referral Hospital.
The visit will culminate with inspection of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
