Afraha stadium won’t be closed entirely despite KDF take over, Thabanja says

Despite the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) taking over, the Afraha Stadium will not be completely closed, says city manager Gitau Thabanja.

Only the areas under construction will be cordoned off.

“We are not going to close the stadium; we are going to implement a holding strategy. This means we are going to enclose the part where the stadium is being constructed while we continue to use the rest of the stadium,” says Mr Thabanja.

He notes that the second phase will not affect the pitch, as it will entail the construction of pavilions three and four.

"We also have to revisit the Bill of Quantities and enhance it. Additionally, there are things that were supposed to be in phase two that we had done in phase one, so we need to streamline all this before construction can commence," he says.

The Afraha Stadium is a contentious issue for many, especially those in the sports fraternity. If the last three months are anything to go by, it is easy to see why. We have seen a variety of football matches and athletics events that have brought the stadium back to life — something those within the sporting fraternity had long awaited.

However, on July 1, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) conducted a site assessment of a few select projects in the county. Afraha Stadium was one of them, and the KDF expressed their readiness to support the completion of the second phase of construction.

They also visited the Olenguruone Stadium and the Trauma Centre at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital for site assessments.

Construction of the Trauma Centre at the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital stalled 13 years ago.

The Medical Superintendent at the time, James Mburu, stated that construction began in 2012 but was interrupted by devolution.

The trauma centre was specifically designed to save the lives of victims of road accidents, particularly along the Nakuru–Eldoret highway at the Sobea–Salgaa–Sachangwan blackspot, which has claimed numerous lives.

According to a Daily Nation article dated January 20, 2019, Sh70 million had already been spent by the time the project was halted.

The Afraha Stadium, on the other hand, was supposed to have been completed within 14 months in 2021. However, after four years, only the first phase of the project has been completed, and the future of the second phase is uncertain.

Site visits by the KDF follow a consultative meeting that took place at State House, Nairobi, on June 11, at which Governor Susan Kihika requested national support to unlock critical projects.

At the time, the president pledged to deploy the KDF to complete the Afraha and Olenguruone stadiums, as well as the trauma centre at Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital.