Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba on Saturday shifted the blame to the previous regime for the deplorable state of stadiums in the country.
Speaking while inspecting the construction of Bukhungu Stadium , Namwamba stated that sports facilities in the country have been neglected for over 40 years.
He further explained that following the poor state of the facilities in the country, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) had been forced to organise a World Cup qualifier for Harambee Stars in Malawi.
“For a long time, Kenya neglected sports facilities. There has been no serious investment in sports facilities for a long time. Nyayo was left and neglected for many years, Kasarani and even attempts to build new facilities, was just a joke,” stated Namwamba.
The CS further explained that despite several stadiums in the country being called international stadiums, they failed to meet the standards specified by FIFA.
However, Namwamba had earlier promised Kenyans that through the government's efforts to rehabilitate the stadiums, Nyayo Stadium would be renovated to the required standard to enable it host games in June 2024.
Despite this promise, the government has decided to have the national team host matches in Malawi, a development that has seen flak directed at the government over lack of preparedness and foresight.
The announcement by CS Namwamba follows an incident on Friday, where Kenyan athletes threatened to boycott the upcoming Olympic trials if the event is not held at a World Athletics-certified venue.
Athletics Kenya (AK) is faced with the challenge of where to host the Olympics trials, slated from June 14-15, since Nyayo and Kasarani stadiums, the only two World Athletics-accredited venues in the country, are currently closed for renovation.
According to the athletes, the Olympic qualifiers were slated to be held in the Ulinzi Complex whose tracks were not certified by the World Athletics.
Consequently, any recorded time within the races held at Ulinzi would not feature as a qualification to the Olympic games to be held from July to August later this year.
With a looming deadline of June 30 for qualification, athletes fear that they will be locked out of the Olympics.
