Broken promises litter Nandi Hills, Kipchoge stadiums as athletes suffer

They say Nandi County is the source of champions, but the world beaters have been struggling on their own to compete with those on the international level who have good facilities but they still deliver.

This is due to broken promises from both the national government and the county government of modern training facilities.

For many years, Kenya has been performing well in athletics with the majority of the runners hailing from the North Rift region but sadly there is no single stadium to be used by athletes for their preparations.

It’s a shame that the same county governments would always want to be associated with the world beaters when they perform well and come back home with goodies oblivious of how hard they trained for those competitions.

KIPCHOGE STADIUM

Nandi County has for some time now been renovating Kipchoge Stadium in Kapsabet which was named after legendary athlete Kipchoge Keino who brought glory to the country in the late 1960’s and 70’s.

But since Nation Sport highlighted about the facility last year with athletes and other sports men and women having high hopes, nothing is ongoing to date.

Athletes have been using roads in tea plantations in Nandi Hills for speed sessions because they are well maintained while others have to travel about 15 kilometres to the University of East Africa, Baraton, from Kapsabet.

The main gate is manned by a guard and the facility now is all grown with grass and bushes at the perimeter wall which has helped in keeping away idlers and cattle grazing on the pitch.

TERMITE HOLES

The pitch is full of termite holes something the next contractor needs to work on before the stadium is ready for use.

The previous government gave the facility a facelift following an initial plan of injecting Sh800 million with the works including construction of an ultra-modern arena with a 30,000-seater capacity.

The stadium was designed to provide international standard sports facilities that will include a modern football pitch, a synthetic track, and state-of-the-art indoor gymnasium and hotels.

The stadium has a complete VIP pavilion with a capacity of 2,000, conference rooms, changing rooms and good drainage which is now covered with grass while the tarmacked last lane is in bad shape and needs repairs.

The works so far cost Sh120 million according to county officials.

According to the Sports Chief Officer Kennedy Tanui, there was delay in releasing funds for the contractor who was owed Sh17 million but he has since been paid for the works done at the stadium.

He further said that in the next financial year they will award a tender for the laying of a tartan track before the facility is ready for use.

“We are waiting for the next financial year where we are expecting a budget to be allocated for the laying of tartan track so that athletes may start using the facility. It has taken long to complete the project but so far we have done well as a county government,” Tanui said.

He also said that plans are still under way to relocate “Swahili village”, a residential area which is next to the stadium, to give room for expansion of the stadium.

“The next phase will include building of terraces and the parking area and that needs more space and that is why the county government is still in the process of acquiring land to relocate the village  and create space,” added Tanui.

NOT SERIOUS

One of the athletes who spoke to Nation Sport on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised  said that the county government is not serious about developing talents and improving the stadium is not their first priority.

“It has taken ages to complete the stadium because the county government has better plans ignoring sports men and women from this region. It’s so sad because they are doing little to develop talents for all those years they have been in the office,” said the athlete.

About 20km away from Kapsabet is another stadium located at the heart of Nandi Hills which is also under construction.

The facility has a good pitch and can be used by footballers but the terraces on the Eastern wing is under construction with county government injecting Sh7 million.