This archive report was first published on 21 September 2019.
For decades, Lamu County has been a hub for athletic talent, producing stars like Ali Kombo, Hussein Langra, and Nahodha Ali who have all featured in the Kenyan Premier League.
However, despite its rich athletic heritage, Lamu County lacks a standard sports stadium, forcing athletes to compete on deplorable pitches.
According to Lamu Sub-Branch Football Kenya Federation vice secretary Hussein Miji, the county's sports sector has been neglected for far too long, with majority of the sports infrastructure left in a deplorable state.
"We don't have a single standard sports stadium in Lamu at the moment. We only use pitches which are in deplorable conditions," Miji said.
Efforts to upgrade the Twaif public playground to a modern stadium have been promised by the county government of Lamu on several occasions, but so far, nothing has materialized.
Yahya Athman, a football player in Lamu, said the lack of standard stadiums has greatly affected their general playing standards.
"We're forced to play beach football instead of the real football here. Most of the football pitches are sandy. Once we travel to play outside Lamu, we end up losing our matches because we're not used to playing on a level playground," Athman said.
However, there is hope on the horizon. Lamu County Chief Officer for Youth Affairs, Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services, Joseph Ng'ang'a, revealed that discussions were already underway to identify two sites in Lamu East and West Sub-Counties where stadiums will be constructed to international standards.
Ng'ang'a said Lamu County government was targeting Muungano Playground in Mpeketoni in Lamu West and Faza Town playground in Lamu East for upgrading to international stadia standards soonest possible.
"We as a county government met this week and allocated Sh65 million to be used to construct the two pitches to the required standards," he said.
