Why Amani Kibera’s sports for peace efforts deserve support

It’s that season yet again when the political din rises to a deafening crescendo, relegating almost everything else to hopeless diminuendo.

And this time round, the politicians seem to be off the blocks quicker than the starter’s gun with some already testing their physical might at funerals where they crown it all by crying louder than the bereaved.

If left unchecked, such political showboating could degenerate into a recipe for chaos.

Part of our political class seems to conveniently forget the troubled past we have emerged from, gory tales of death and suffering visited on weak and exposed communities seemingly not deterrent enough in their pursuit of glory.

It’s a time when we should have all hands on deck and protect the vulnerable from such mischievous political sprites that are upon us on the eve of each electioneering period like locust swarms.

It’s a time when sports can be used as a shield against the excesses of these egocentric politicians who always flatter to deceive, stopping at nothing to gain political office and then using such gains for self-gratification. Such a shame!

Positive messages

This week on Thursday, community youth empowerment group, Amani Kibera, and 40 other community-based organisations will launch a partnership in conjunction with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to empower young people against political violence and preach the gospel of tolerance.  

Over 70 youngsters will converge on the Ligi Ndogo grounds where football will be used as the magnet to attract positive messages in the hope of helping the youth rise above the din of political confusion.

Kibera is an area that has suffered untold times from negative aspects of political campaigns and the youth in this area have taken upon themselves to create a positive environment for man to co-exist peacefully with the political animal. 

As we approach the electioneering period and the Building Bridges Initiative referendum, careless political talk will most certainly fan the flames of class wars whose preamble has already been visited on us in small, ubiquitous and worrying doses. 

The ugly battle lines have been drawn.

It’s encouraging to see young Kenyans in Kibera and other fragile addresses it take upon themselves to launch sports initiatives and engage community media to prepare the ground for peace.

Amani Kibera is one such organisation that has been empowering young, talented Kenyans in various ways, including creating self-employment and using sports as a vehicle for drumming up peaceful coexistence.

Yesterday, for instance, under the leadership of Benson Ouma, Amani Kibera held a community media workshop — also attended by visiting pre-eminent and celebrated Dutch development journalist Marc Broere — to help build the confidence of community journalists, often the unsung heroes and heroines of our profession.

Thursday’s football tournament on Ngong Road is another critical step in helping cushion the vulnerable against toxic political rhetoric.

“We structure the tournament in such a way that the games are used to convey messages of peaceful coexistence, with opportunities to conduct advocacy on the theme,” explains Ouma.

The tournament will be followed by post-tournament peace building activities to ensure that the participants invited undertake specific tasks and activities meant to promote political tolerance and violence-free political campaigns.

For the last 13 years, Amani Kibera has engaged various stakeholders in peace-building initiatives and are keen on using community media to change the narrative that Kibera is all doom and gloom, full of negative vibe.

Such initiatives deserve our total support as they will help bring about peace, harmony and tolerance during these heated political times. And sport will be a powerful tool to drive the message home in a special way that cuts across the political divide.

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This week, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is running Physical Endurance Tests and Laws of the Game training for match officials tasked with officiating the federation’s various matches and competitions.

The training in Kericho County will also involve medical check-ups with the federation’s vice chairperson Doris Petra and Joseph Andere, FKF’s referees’ committee chairman, presiding over the opening ceremony from 11am today at the Kericho Green Stadium. 

Jekyll and Hyde scenario

The training comes at a time there have been numerous complaints over the falling standards of officiating in the country.

At the weekend, Kenyan legend Peter Dawo, currently in the technical arm of high-flying Kisumu All Stars, was livid, accusing National Super League referees of open bias against his team in their match at Modern Coast.

Dawo, a Mandela Cup sensation with Gor Mahia in 1987, claims match officials in the second tier competition had conspired against some teams, allegations he hopes will be on the agenda as the referees retreat in the tea-growing county of Kericho this week.

Such claims demonstrate the Jekyll and Hyde scenario in the Kenyan game that also boasts impressive match officials — including university lecturer Peter Waweru and Gilbert Cheruiyot who handled the recent African Nations Championship final at Cameroon’s Stade Ahmadu Ahijo in Yaounde.

Over to you Petra and Andere! Some food for thought over a cup of Kericho tea!

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