Merely hosting the World Cup trophy isn’t good enough

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s address on Monday afternoon at State House, Nairobi, summed up the frightening situation that local sports finds itself in, and was confirmation of how lowly the industry is thought of in this country.

The president, having touched and posed with the gleaming Fifa World Cup trophy, said that he hoped the silverware will make its way back in Kenya in four years’ time.

While it is lovely for Kenya to have been selected for the trophy tour for a third consecutive time, I found President Kenyatta’s statement disturbing.

A Head of State, who appears comfortable with his country’s position as one that facilitates the marketing of the World Cup trophy, instead of putting practical measures in place to ensure that the national team makes an appearance at the global stage, is both defeatist and demeaning.

Yet that is what we do. All we ever do in fact. We lead by cheering on mediocrity. We insist upon inaction.

We are the people ordering endless Ubers to take us to the place we already stand.

We allow socialites and social media influencers in the trophy tour at the expense of men and women footballers who have done the country proud despite enduring severe challenges.

And if this defeatist mentality is allowed to take root, the only variable between now and 2022 will be the change in calendars.

Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa is new so he shouldn’t be judged against Uhuru’s statements, or the silver-tongued administrators who have played different roles in bringing down this industry over the years.

However, he has a responsibility to save our local sport that has been so profoundly damaged by years of neglect.

Kenya has failed to qualify, not only for the World Cup (in all its 20 editions), but also for any competition worth speaking of in over a decade.

So bad is the situation that coach Paul Put resigned unexpectedly from his position just three months into his tenure.

I expected the Head of State to talk about the current instability within the national team.

The fact that they do not have a competent coach at the moment.

Or the fact that they are yet to announce ay road map that will ensure we prevail against Ghana in September and keep alive hope of making it to the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Or to talk about the Sports Act that is yet to be implemented fully. Or elaborate on how the national government expects to provide substantial financial support for sports federations and clubs, to cushion them from the dearth of willing financial partners.

But he was so excited to see and touch the trophy, that it didn’t matter that the aspirations of thousands of footballers is currently in limbo.

He refused to address his citizen’s thirst to see Harambee Stars shining in such competitions for once.

It was even more disheartening to realise he knew nothing about Vision 2022 that was to see Kenya make a maiden appearance at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.