This archive report was first published on 24 May 2020.
August 2010 was a momentous month for Kihumbuini Stadium in Kangemi, Nairobi County. The stadium was selected by the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) to host top-tier league matches, filling the air with an air of expectation.
The Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, was closed for renovation, and Nyayo National Stadium was unavailable due to the 2020 African Senior Athletics Championships. In its place, a small dais was built inside Kihumbuini Stadium, and a perimeter fence was partly erected.
The playing surface was levelled and grass planted by the Nairobi Provincial Administration at the time. With basic facilities in place, the pitch hosted matches in the KPL and other lower-leagues for a while.
However, a decade later, the stadium has been reduced to a dump site serving the adjacent Kangemi Market. Traders have encroached on the parking area, while idle youth doze away in broad daylight on what used to be the playing surface.
Just what happened to Kihumbuini Stadium? In mid-2018, Nairobi County Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko announced an ambitious plan to convert five facilities in the county to modern stadiums. Kihumbuini Stadium was part of Sonko's mega plan, which started with the construction of Dandora Stadium.
October 2018 saw Sonko preside over the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a new 'state-of-the-art' Kihumbuini Stadium, rekindling hope among football stakeholders in Kangemi and its environs. Tractors and workers moved to the site, dug up the playing surface, but did nothing more.
Eight months later, the contractor carted away his equipment, leaving the pitch worse than he found it. Arthunus 'Obango' Obala, a veteran football administrator, has said history has repeated itself concerning the stadium, with politicians making empty promises as far as the refurbishment of the sports facility is concerned.
Obala recalled that former President Daniel Toroitich arap Moi made a stop-over in 1988 and addressed thousands of Kangemi residents on the very pitch, promising to ensure a modern stadium was built in months. That never happened.
During the 2013 General Elections, Deputy President William Samoei Ruto was in Kangemi and promised the same. Fred Gumo, who served as the Westlands Member of Parliament for many years, also promised to refurbish the facility but never did.
Even the current MP Timothy Wanyonyi seems to have forgotten that this pitch is in his area of jurisdiction. When Sonko moved in and started actual work in the stadium, we were very happy and thought that a messiah had finally remembered the youth of Kangemi but it has turned out to be just another political gimmick.
Hashim Kamau, chairman of Nairobi County Sports Board, however says the county has not abandoned Kihumbuini Stadium project, adding that the county will soon begin working on the facility afresh. The contractor building Dandora Stadium is scheduled to work on Kihumbuini Stadium as soon as Dandora is complete.
With seven military officers tasked with enhancing service delivery in Nairobi through the newly-created Nairobi Metropolitan Services, footballers and other sportspeople in the city hope the new dispensation will also have sports high up their agenda.
