Joe Kadenge burial date set

The Senate has proposed that Nyayo National Stadium be renamed after Joe Kadenge, the Kenyan football icon who died on Sunday after a long battle with stroke.

Meanwhile, Kadenge will be buried on Saturday, July 20 in Soliani Village of Hamisi Sub-county in Vihiga County, his family has confirmed.

At a press conference at the deceased’s Nairobi home in Mariakani Estate, South ‘B’ the family said they had come up with a tentative programme that will guide on how the celebrated former Kenyan International will be given a befitting send-off.

Kadenge, 84, breathed his last on Sunday at the Meridian Hospital in Nairobi after long illness. The deceased’s nephew and family spokesman, Chris Mmbwanga, said they will to hold a funds drive on Tuesday evening next week to help offset some of the bills incurred by the death of the former Maragoli United and AFC Leopards midfielder (then Abaluhya United).

The funds drive will take place at Charter Hall. Thereafter, on Wednesday, a requiem mass will be held at Friends International Center Church on Ngong Road, before the body is flown to Bhukungu Stadium in Kakamega County on Thursday for public viewing.

Meanwhile, friends and elected leaders continued to troop at the deceased home in Mariakani Estate in Nairobi’s South B Estate to condole with the family.

ODM leader Raila Odinga and Vihiga Senator George Khaniri yesterday visited the home, where they condoled the family and received a briefing on the progress of the burial plans.

Odinga eulogised Kadenge as a “great footballer” who, apart from marketing Kenyan football globally with his beautiful style of play, was also nurturing the upcoming talents.

“He (Kadenge) promoted the game of football nationally. He was a very selfless person when it came to football. We have lost a great football legend in the country who promoted Kenyan football to international standards as well,” he said.

At the Senate, the lawmakers variously described Kadenge as a true national icon and hero whose exploits on the pitch deserved to be immortalised through the renaming of the country’s second biggest stadium.

And even though the House paid tribute by observing a minute’s silence in his memory, the legislators turned guns to their own heads saying their glowing tribute to the former footballer was typical of the nauseating national culture in which achievers are only celebrated in death.

They agreed that Kadenge lived in squalor depending on his benefactors’ generosity and benevolence which they said was not good for the person of his stature and noting that his death was a wake-up call to legislators to address the real issues afflicting national heroes.