This archive report was first published on 12 July 2020.
Building Stadiums Yet Essential Services Underfunded is Unwise ¶
As a Kenyan, I am appalled by the government's priorities. While we wait for over a decade for the construction of 10 stadiums, essential services such as healthcare and education remain underfunded.
According to the government, 10 stadiums were to be constructed 10 years ago. However, this promise has yet to be fulfilled, and the ministry has had three ministers in the past seven years who have all read from the same script full of promises that the government had no intention of keeping.
It is a stale joke and has had its day. The government should keep quiet and let the finished stadiums speak for themselves. Alternatively, let Kenyans have the chance to graze their cows on the overgrown grass once their term ends.
The thirst for big buck projects is unjustified. We have one of the most unequal countries, with a deplorable healthcare system and an education system that has ground to a halt. Covid-19 has exposed the ramifications of corruption on children of the poor attending public schools.
Like many projects set up for embezzlement, the laptop project never materialised. Its effect has now truly been felt when children desperately needed to be taught online but there were no laptops in most schools.
Counties are busy building expensive houses for governors, who earn huge salaries. It is more about style than substance in our leadership and style adds no value to the people's lives.
Even offices are soon going out of fashion in the Digital Age as more people work from home. Which means we need quality homes for everyone — an opportunity that one governor's mansion takes away.
The mega stadium construction projects contribute to our corruption pandemic and should be frozen. The Kimwarer and Arror dams scandal should be where we draw the line.
Had every Kenyan laid a brick daily, we would probably have finished building enough stadiums for every county. Giving the work to dubious contractors means they end up working in dubious fashion.
How does impunity get to this level without insiders facilitating grand corruption? There has been a pattern across projects. Have lessons never been learnt from the NYS scandals, where billions were lost to fictitious tenders?
Since we are that good at running and have dominated the world without as much as practising in stadiums, the sensible thing to do is to build one state-of-the-art athletics stadium-cum-fitness centre in Iten for our elite athletes.
The money earmarked for stadiums could be put into better use elsewhere. Quality schools, hospitals, youth centres, affordable homes, refuge centres and water are desperately needed.
It is simply madness to aim to build 10 stadiums if we could not even bother to maintain the ones we have. It would be better to focus on the current national stadiums and renovate them to generate revenue.
Indeed, economic development needs to be prioritised but stadiums do not hold the clue to our economic success. We are nowhere near the English Premier League yet to flood the country with stadiums.
The scheme is money down the pockets of corrupt officials and seriously risks joining a catalogue of white elephants dotting the country.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. @kdiguyo
