Serious concerns are beginning to take shape in Tharaka Nithi County around the handling of the Youth, Sports, and Culture docket, after Live Wire FC, the county’s only team competing in the prestigious FKF Division II league, announced an indefinite suspension from active competition, citing financial challenges and a lack of county support.
The situation has triggered renewed scrutiny of how the county executive is approaching youth development and sports promotion, with particular attention turning to structural weaknesses within the relevant County Executive Committee Member (CECM) office responsible for the docket.
There is a growing sense, especially among stakeholders within the sports sector, that the failure to resolve even the most basic of operational issues points to a larger and more worrying question about leadership, competence, and the strategic orientation of the docket itself.
The collapse of the team’s participation in the FKF Division II league, a national competition critical for talent exposure and community engagement, is not being interpreted merely as a budgetary issue, but rather as a visible outcome of persistent neglect and administrative detachment from the realities faced by youth on the ground.
What makes the situation especially difficult to ignore is the fact that this is the only team from the entire county competing at that level, and therefore, its success or failure directly reflects on the health of the grassroots sports infrastructure in Tharaka Nithi.
Observers within the county government and the local sporting ecosystem point to what they describe as a general sense of inaccessibility, disengagement, and lack of operational clarity within the department tasked with youth and sports development, raising questions about whether this docket, under its current stewardship, is adequately equipped to deliver on its mandate.
More troubling, however, is the repeated allegation among insiders that the current officeholder has consistently dismissed genuine grievances with open arrogance, often boasting of having a powerful “godfather” shielding her.
This is a reference widely understood within government circles to point toward none other than Governor himself, who appointed her to the position and is said to have an unusually close relationship with her, a dynamic that has long been the subject of muted speculation and quiet discomfort within the county administration.
Below is what sources within the county government, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, have detailed as the underlying frustrations that have been building behind the scenes.
“Good afternoon Nyakundi. In Tharaka Nithi County, CECM for Youths and Sports, Ms. Moreen Nyambura Kariuki, is under fire from angry youths who accuse her of mismanaging the docket. The only team representing the county in Division II recently withdrew due to lack of support. When approached, she allegedly dismissed the youths, claiming Tharaka has no talent and the county won’t waste resources. Her arrogance and claims of having a “Godfather” have sparked outrage, with youths demanding her immediate resignation. The team is Live Wire FC, the league is Division II league, and it was the only team in the county in that league.”
It has not gone unnoticed that this is not the first time governance concerns have been raised regarding the department, with similar issues having been quietly flagged over the past three years but never meaningfully addressed, possibly due to political shielding that has made it difficult to enforce accountability.
The current incident is now being seen as symptomatic of a deeper failure to align leadership appointments with merit, technical competence and an appreciation for the developmental importance of sports in county-level governance.
As youth leaders across the county begin organizing for answers, there is now a strong demand for the county administration to re-evaluate the strategic direction of the docket, and to introduce safeguards that ensure that public offices, especially those with such direct impact on the aspirations of young people, are not reduced to ceremonial postings or political patronage rewards.
In its official communication, Live Wire FC management cited insurmountable financial strain as the main reason behind its withdrawal from league operations but within the broader context of a reportedly unresponsive county support structure, many are interpreting the suspension as the unfortunate culmination of years of policy vacuum and unaddressed grievances.
For many close to the matter, the current CECM’s continued presence at the helm of such a sensitive and impact-driven docket is no longer seen as merely ineffective but increasingly being regarded as a liability, emblematic of an administration that appears more invested in protecting personal loyalties than delivering measurable outcomes for the county’s youth.
