Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports & The Arts Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has directed Kirubia Stadium contractor to get back to site.
Speaking during an inspection tour of the sports facility on Thursday, February 9, 2023, Namwamba noted that his ministry was keen to develop facilities that met international standards to enable the country host major regional and international competitions.
“We want the remaining work here to commence immediately. We are asking he contractor who was responsible for this project to get back to site immediately”, he said.
According to Namwamba, the stadium was part of the seven stadia vision by the former Jubilee administration to have sports facilities in the country to support the sporting ecosystem and grow grassroot talent but the ministry under the new regime had so far frozen the development of sporting facilities for the next few months to allow a special audit to be conducted.
The CS insisted that the audit would help determine how the projects were conducted, the amount of money spent, whether value for money had been achieved and why some projects had stalled or constructed at substandard levels.
“We want to know why a tartan track such as this one laid just over a year ago at Kirubia is already peeling off before any competition has taken place on this track. We don’t want to develop sporting and artistic facilities and infrastructure haphazardly, we want to do it in the context of a master plan”, he added.
Namwamba noted that exceptions had been made to Moi Stadium in Embu that is scheduled to host this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations, where the ministry had agreed to help rehabilitate the stadium and also develop a new sports facility at Njukiri grounds.
The second exception was made for Kirubia Stadium, a project which according to the CS was dear to President William Ruto as the initiator and since it was set to host the 8th edition of the Kenya Youth Inter County Sports in April.
The CS acknowledged the high altitude in the county as a unique advantage to athletes in the country saying the stadium was in a perfect location for sports men and women.
“We are keen as a ministry to invest in facilities in this county to make it a county of choice for Kenyan athletes who want to benefit from high altitude training offered in this location”, he said.
For the project to be complete, the CS recommended an international standard tartan track and field, noting their deplorable state yet the stadium had not been officially commissioned.
Speaking during the inspection tour, Tharaka Nithi governor Muthomi Njuki blamed the previous government for the delayed opening and commissioning of the stadium, even with the construction being complete by 2020.
“What you have seen here today is a lot of wastage because when a facility is completed and not put in use, it will waste away. We had that unfortunate circumstance when we were not allowed to use the field”, he said.
According to Njuki, the stadium is set to host President William Ruto in his maiden visit to the county as president in the coming weeks.
“We hope to hold a thanksgiving prayer ceremony here and we hope by the time the president visits, he will find it in a better shape than it is today”, he added.
The CS was accompanied by Sports PS Jonathan Mweke, Sports Kenya officials and other sports stakeholders.
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