By Fredrick Nadulli,
Kenya appears set to get into the Confederation of African Football’s – CAF – bad books, yet again, if recent developments or lack thereof, are anything to go by.
Two decades since the country was awarded rights to host a major continental showpiece, the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, and ignominiously let the chance slip away, a feeling of deja vu stubbornly hangs in the air, with chances of hosting the CHAN in January 2018 growing ever so slim each passing day.
Public opinion heavily suggests this country has perfected the art of punching above its weight and getting ahead of itself purely as a public relations gimmick, much to the chagrin of football stakeholders and ardent lovers of the game. Whether by design or default, Kenya is a perfect case study of how not to organize a major tournament.
The next 7 days will prove crucial for football this part of the world going forward.
MUCH TALK LESS ACTION
We might be forgiven for ceding the rights of Afcon in 1996 to last minute step-in hosts and eventual winners South Africa because of a polarized political atmosphere and brutal government shenanigans, but twenty years down the line Kenya has the perfect chance to redeem itself and bring back hitherto faded smiles to counter the frowns that have dominated our faces for ages.
In February the Local Organizing Committee – LOC – formed to actualize and fast track the dream gave the country an assurance that everything was on course and that there was no cause for alarm. Speaking in Eldoret where they went on a fact finding mission, they said the Kipchoge Keino stadium was 95% ready for use. A very fine progress report that got the country purring with delight. Indeed their observation was loudly echoed by a CAF advance team that landed in the country in March. The delegation sent a positive report card to Cairo. In their assessment they were content with progress to stage the games here.
Four months on, and with work supposedly gathering considerable pace, it took no less than the Sports minister himself Hassan Wario to point out government commitment and will to have everything in place within the allowed set guidelines. That was on 18th July and on the 22nd Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa in his trademark publicized press conference expressed strong optimism there was nothing to fret about. “CHAN is in good hands”, he said, without batting an eyelid.
Those two gentlemen’s sentiments were enough to calm the bulging nerves of an ever discerning public that was beginning to cast serious aspersions on the federation’s and government honesty to stage the tourney. Meanwhile the CAF headquarters in Cairo maintained an uneasy silence, perhaps a proverbial lull before storm in the public eye.
Barely two days later on 24th July, CAF broke its studious silence and voiced displeasure at the country’s slow pace. In their rigid assessment there was no meaningful progress to march in tandem with the waning timelines. The red flag was eventually raised in August when a report suggested construction work in all major venues earmarked to host CHAN were yet to begin. Kasarani, Nyayo, Kinoru, Eldoret and Machakos were all way behind schedule, cited the strongly worded report.
WATERLOO
Admittedly nothing considerable has taken place between the last visit and now to warrant a major shift in the thinking of CAF. Nothing tangible to sway their mind. As it is, inspectors arrive on Monday 11th September,2017 in a visit that may as well turn out to be Kenya’s waterloo.
The election fever gripping the country doing little to brighten the bleak situation. CAF is biding its time in a wait-and-see attitude following the annulment of the first round of polls. Football diehards will say the sticky situation is bitter-sweet for Kenya.
For the political class, elections take precedence over sports, much less CHAN at the moment, seeing that millions of dollars will be required to organize a fresh round of presidential polls.
Kenyans are an optimistic lot and everyone wants to believe the concerned parties will huff and puff to keep the rights here, but every day it appears more likely the tourney will find an alternative home. At this time in the last edition, Rwanda had more than 90% of its works complete, in a vintage championship played in Kigali, Huye and Rubavu and won by the DRC.
The government of Kenya and the Football Kenya Federation are marked entities. They both have a date with destiny.
