Kapkatet stadium: Where Jomo, Moi, Uhuru, and Ruto have sought blessings

Kapkatet stadium is a melting pot for cultural, religious and political activities for members of the Kipsigis community in the South Rift region.

Historically, it is the site where members of the community make major declarations on local, regional and national issues.

Presidents and presidential candidates have been garlanded and promoted as the community’s elders in traditional ceremonies at the venue dating back to Kenya’s independence.

Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and President Uhuru Kenyatta received their traditional blessings and were installed as Kipsigis community elders at the stadium, earning them political mileage.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was made an elder at the stadium ahead of the 2007 General Election and the region’s residents backed him for the presidency.

Dr Ruto, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate under the Kenya Kwanza coalition, will on Sunday hold a last major rally at the stadium, bringing together members of the Kipsigis community in the South Rift counties of Kericho, Bomet, Narok and Nakuru.

Cumulatively, the community has more than one million registered voters that can provide a swing vote in the election.

As he heads to the stadium, Dr Ruto, who has not toured Kericho and Bomet since he was cleared by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to run for President, will be seeking to kill two birds with one stone by bringing together members of the community to make a political decision with a bearing on the elections.

“Historically, once a political declaration is made at Kapkatet, it binds the Kipsigis community members to rally behind the candidate and political party identified for support. Dr Ruto’s tour of the region is expected to turn tables on his competitors,” said Mr Joseph Cherorot, the Kipkelion East UDA parliamentary candidate.

"A presidential candidate can go round the South Rift region seeking votes from the residents, but without crowning it with a rally at Kapkatet, you will not be considered a serious contender."

It is not clear whether Mr Odinga, the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate will hold a rally at the stadium as is the tradition over the years, or if his tours of Bomet and Kericho counties three weeks ago were his last political forays into the region.

Kapkatet is the venue where members of the community make major regional and national political declarations with a bearing on the voting pattern in a General Election.

The stadium was set aside in the 1940s as a public utility land during the reign of revered senior chief Kipsang arap Tengecha, whom the local Tengecha complex schools are named after.

Mzee Tengecha was the father of former Lands permanent secretary Joseah Sang and grandfather of Bureti MP Kiptergech Mutai.

On September 8, 2017, President Kenyatta and Dr Ruto received CCM party leader Isaac Ruto to the Jubilee coalition at the stadium after he dumped the Nasa coalition, where he was a co-principal, ahead of the October 17 presidential run-off.

President Kenyatta was seeking to solidify the South Rift votes in the run-off that was boycotted by Mr Odinga.

Mr Ruto, a former Council of Governors chairman, had been defeated in the August 8, 2017 General Election by Joyce Laboso, who ran on a Jubilee ticket. Dr Laboso succumbed to cancer complications at Nairobi Hospital on July 29, 2019.

“Kapkatet is the only historic grounds where rituals to elevate one to be an elder of the Kipsigis community are conducted. There are a lot of qualities and considerations that come into play before one is installed to such a position,” Myoot Council of Elders chairman retired Bishop Paul Leleito said in a previous interview.

Despite the political significance, the upgrading of the Kapkatet stadium has stalled for more than 15 years, with the facility reduced to a cattle grazing ground.

Despite repeated assurances from the late President Mwai Kibaki, President Kenyatta, DP Ruto and Mr Odinga that funds would be allocated by the national government for its completion, fulfilling the pledge has become elusive over the years.

It has become a political issue in the last three elections, with the region's residents being fed with the same promises that were repeatedly broken immediately after the polls.

The national government pumped about Sh400 million into the project 15 years ago, but the upgrading stalled, with only a perimeter wall constructed, the playground partly levelled and two sheds funded by the Bureti Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and multinational company James Finlay.

Elders from the region have protested the clear felling of huge indigenous trees in part of the stadium to facilitate the upgrade and no tree seedlings were planted as a replacement, with the stadium now in a state of disuse.

Mzee Isaiah Kipkoech Korir, a 70-year-old member of the Myoot Council of Elders, said the stadium had over the years been used for cultural functions by the community.

“All Kenya’s past and current presidents received blessings from the Kipsigis elders in this stadium and were handed leadership batons and traditional paraphernalia. But they have all betrayed us by failing to upgrade the stadium as promised,” said Mzee Korir.

Agricultural and cultural shows used to be held at the stadium before and after independence according to elders who took part in the ceremonies.

But since the partial upgrade, the facility is no longer accessible for the activities it used to be used for as one has to acquire a permit from the Kericho County government and pay a fee before hosting events at the venue.

“Gone are the days when elders used to meet and chart the way forward on various issues affecting the society. The historical indigenous trees that were planted in the 1940s were cut down by National Youth Service (NYS) recruits who upgraded the facility,” said Mzee Korir, who is disappointed with the turn of events.

Mr Samwel Koros, chairman of the business community at Kapkatet trading centre, said the stadium was in a state of neglect by the government and senior politicians and technocrats in the country know about it.

“Every time the politicians and technocrats in government come to Kapkatet to recite the promises that they know would not be kept, it is an insult to the local community. This year, you can rest assured the same lies will be fed to the voters,” said Mr Koros.

The toilets at the facility were not upgraded and are blocked with no running water. The stadium has no water supply.

The Kapkatet campus of the Kenya Medical Training College, a satellite campus of Kabianga University, Kapkatet and Tengecha primary schools, Kapkatet, Tengecha Boys, Tengecha Girls, Tengecha and Soliat Secondary schools are some of the learning institutions that are close to the facility and use it during zonal sports and athletics competitions.

The NYS personnel were accused of engaging in criminal activities, including rape, theft and mugging, which were reported at local police stations in the almost two years they stayed in Kapkatet erecting the perimeter wall.

Land speculators are said to have encroached on the facility, allocating themselves portions of plots that they developed before the perimeter wall was raised.

“The only good thing the perimeter wall has done is to demarcate boundaries between private properties and the public one. But if proper surveys were to be done, a number of the plots would be repossessed,” said Mr Koros.

Trees that were planted more than 80 years ago but brought down during the upgrading of the facility have not been replaced.

“Tree seedlings should be planted around the facility’s perimeter to act as windbreakers and as part of a conservation programme in the region. Our forefathers had a lot of attachment to the trees that were cut to pave the way for construction,” said Mrs Irene Towett, a resident.

Apart from a football pitch, which is uneven and does not drain water properly during rainy seasons, and an athletics track, the facility does not have any other court for competitions.

Safe for the perimeter wall, a security wall has not been constructed around the track and football pitch, while the dais and the shed are too small, with no terraces for the public to sit on.

Whenever there are big functions, especially political ones, tents are erected on the pitch for VIPs and the public, while others sit on the grass in the open grounds.

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