Crazy Friday - Hosting football tournaments is hot topic this week in Kenya

Posted: 29/11/2013

RPS has two trainers working in Nairobi again this week for a gobal oil company. Hosting the CECAFA football  tournament is a big thing and something of which Nairobi is proud. Would the stadia have received a facelift had the tournament not taken place, Anil Bakari doesn't think so. This is Crazy Friday in Kenya....

For thos who are not football fans, CECAFA stands for the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations The tournament is being held in Kenya from 27 November to 12 December, where matches are being played in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos and Nakuru. This article for Crazy Friday is taken from the Kenyan press and is written as it was printed.

"It must be uniquely Kenyan; that it will take a guest to visit a home for the family to eat ‘luxurious’ foods like chapatti and chicken.

But For the Love of the Game thinks we have taken this habit too far, and that is why as a country, we are still struggling to provide basic services like garbage collection. Just look at the way our governors are running around trying to renovate stadia because of the CECAFA tournament and you will think they never knew those arenas existed before.

From Kisumu, to Nakuru, to the Coast, governors have suddenly found money to refurbish the stadia, yet they did not think that was a priority. Some of the stadia last had a face lift during the colonial era, but thanks to CECAFA, they are now getting a new coat of paint, fresh grass, fence and seats.

After the works, a good number of pitches will resemble China’s Birds Nest Stadium or Old Trafford, and that is what is called ‘calculated development’. Certainly they will not be told, but those countries taking part in the tournament should know that they have helped us a great deal.

If they keep coming here every year, Kenya may achieve its dream of hosting African Cup of Nations sooner than we realise our much-loved economic blue-print aptly titled Vision 2030. And this will not come about because the government or our leaders love the citizens, nah! It will be purely because of our governors’ egos.

Dream as things stand now, our development at the grassroots, in all areas including sports, now lies in the hands of governors’ egos.

 

By ANIL BAKARI
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/lifestyle/article/2000098570/hosting-cecafa-an-eye-opener

Photo: cecafafootball.org/

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