Forget sports, Kenyan stadiums were made for political events

The colourful images from the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, which we woke up to Friday morning would have certainly made any big stage athlete in the mold of Usain Bolt, Cristiano Ronaldo and, yes, our very own sprinting sensation Ferdinand Omanyala go green with envy.

The media and sources on the ground reported that Kenya’s biggest, and by far the most functional sporting facility, with an estimated sitting capacity of 60,000, was slowly but steadily filling up in the early hours of a chilly Friday morning.

The Nation reported it thus: “On the roads leading to the stadium, the excitement was palpable as bus-loads of people made their way to the venue… Pro-Raila chants could be heard from the excited ODM supporters… By 9.30am, all signs pointed to a venue that will likely be packed to capacity quite early.”

Outside the venue, hawkers were doing brisk business as they cashed in on all sorts of pro-Raila merchandise and paraphernalia, ranging from t-shirts, caps, scarfs, whistles, improvised (real) orange ‘necklaces’, name it.

Interestingly, it was even reported that thousands actually spent the previous night out in the cold at Kasarani, just to ensure that they didn’t miss out on the mega event.

Make no mistake, this wasn’t going to be an event just for the ‘ordinary’ citizenry. A former president, diplomats and elected leaders were all part of the VVIP guest list. Well, you’d have been the proverbial sole visitor in Jerusalem if you didn’t know by then what was happening at Kasarani – which had nothing to do with football, or any other sport for that matter.

A self-confessed football fanatic, Baba was not coming to the venue to cheer Haramabee Stars or his beloved Gor Mahia, as he often does. This was going to be a completely different ball game, in every sense of the word.

And politics it was through and through at the “Azimio la Umoja convention”, where the ODM party leader Raila Odinga revealed the worst kept political secret ahead of next year’s General Election – that indeed he will be on the ballot come August 9, 2022 for a fifth stab at the presidency.

Without getting into the substance of what should arguably be one of the biggest political events of the year, I must congratulate Baba for pulling this one off – I mean the huge crowd that attended the convention. This I say from a sporting perspective, given how hard it has proved over the years to fill up the Chinese-constructed coliseum.

The last few occasions when we beheld a full-to-capacity Kasarani was way back in 2017 when Nairobi hosted the IAAF World Under-18 Championships and a year later when Kenya played host to Ethiopia in an Afcon qualifier. On both occasions, the high attendances were largely thanks to entry fee waivers.

Given the numbers that political rallies often draw at sports-designated venues, Jubilee administration’s 2013 campaign pledge of five state-of-the-art stadiums that never materialised could as well have been a self-serving political hoax.

If the said stadiums were ever built, I suspect they would have had nothing to do with developing sports in the country.

I wonder, though, whether we will ever witness a time when Kenyan sports lovers will ‘sleep’ in their numbers at Kasarani, not in anticipation of a Baba or William Ruto political event, but rather to secure vantage spots for a football match featuring Harambee Stars, Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards or Tusker FC. I’m highly doubtful.

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