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:: Kenya's stadia revolution
19 November 2006

Smitta had mentioned in his column that it was not a bad place. So last Friday I passed by the pub they called Manaz at the Nyayo National Stadium. The pub is really nice. It’s small and quite homey and can probably carry like a hundred pals or so. Clean toilets. Nice colds beers. At the counter, they are taking any chances and have the banners of the four big English premierships sides (Arsenal, Man U, Chelski and Liverpool). The TV's are not too big. I don't expect you to have the most = exciting time watching a game unless you are seated at the counter.

The Nyayo Stadium we knew

While the pub lacks the big screen TV's it has more on offer. The homeboyz were spinning some really nice music. And it turns out that was the first time they were playing there (am I lucky or what?) Obviously what this means is that the pub has decided to reach out to a younger audience. Very apt. K2 (Klubhouse 2) that was on Baricho road closed after the World cup and they have never opened since (dandas!). Manaz may be gunning to take that gap in Kenya's club scene. The only thing they lack is the dance floor and they are in business. Off course the truth is that nowadays a dance floor has become an unnecessary accessory. After several beers people usually just stand up where they are drinking and shake them bon bons.

The changes at Manaz are a pretty good indicator of the change that is happening in this country. I was at that Kenya - Morocco football match last year. I came pretty early in my opinion (1:30pm for a 4pm kick off) only to find a huge crowd that had not been served. It was horrible. I had gotten my ticket and was queuing to get into the stadium. The closer it got to kick off time the more restless the crowd was. It wasn't that we wanted to win the game - a dude was heard screaming "mwarabu achapwe na harambee!" We were more concerned that we would miss the thrashing of “mwarabu” as we waited to get in. It was also evident that some pals had not paid their dues and were spoiling for trouble. Five minutes before kick off, all hell broke lose. Fellows were climbing the gates willy nilly. The gate we were using was rushed and I ran into the stadium before someone trampled me to death.

As we went into the stadium, I saw several Kenyans being given medical attention. I had been in unsafe situations before but that day was up there with the worst of them. Seeing people lying by the side of the stadium writhing in pain and blood was scary stuff. I never knew how much danger I was in until later in the evening during the news when I heard a high school student had died in that scramble that I had been in earlier in the day. Since that day there was really no way you could convince me to come any where near a Kenyan stadium to watch a football match.

Since then I have been to Kasarani twice; to watch Kenya's volleyball queens earlier in the year as well as see Conjestina lose to Yvonne Reis. I attended these events with a clean heart. I love the volley ball queens for two reasons; they rock (Africa's finest) and Janet Wanja. And I really dig Conjestina and her bravado. However, apart from this I still have a fear of Kenyan stadia. At least until the last few weeks. I was fortunate to have lunch with Andrew Toboso who works with the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB). The SSMB has some serious plans for Kenyan stadia. This board was mooted in 2000 as a parastatal under the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services. The board seems to have gotten some serious work done in the last few months/years - especially when Sam Mwai got on board.

The various stadia have been getting some serious makeovers. The Nyayo National stadium track was recently completely upholstered. The floodlights have also been done over in a big way. The pool is now clean and ready for the swimmers. The pitch which was formerly the home of the Army to march up and down and kill all the grass is now in pristine condition for use at football matches. The same goes for Kasarani Stadium. I am still a bit scared of attending a football match but I know that the games will now be played on a regulation pitch. I can now proudly watch Harambee Stars play anyone and not expect a foreign commentator to say "the Kasarani pitch which is so hilly and bumpy" like that Nigerian dude said of our National stadium. That really was embarrassing and may now be another thing from the past we can wash away from our national psyche like evil KANU.

The Stadium Board has many issues to deal with. Land grabbing for one apparently was not alien to this department of government. Apparently, for instance, some dude grabbed a stadium in Nyeri and then build a mosque on the pitch. I don't envy the SSMB trying to reclaim this piece of land with the Muslims crying fowl about being discriminated against. Even some of the Kasarani ground had been munched. There are some sounds about all the land being returned.

There is hope in spite of these negatives. Kenya has been having a 60,000 seater for almost two decades - Tanzania is only now finishing theirs. So we have some head start. The Kasarani complex has some hostels and the stadium board is converting them into a three star hotel. Plans are at advanced stage and I expect to see communication from the board about this any time soon.

The UN Habitat has also apparently decided to partner with the Stadium board. Their reasoning is good. Urban areas are turning out to be the most unsafe areas to live in. This has a lot to do with a large population being concentrated in very small areas like in our bigger. This is partly due to a lack of access to social services as well as recreational and employment opportunities. This leads the younger sections of the community doing some anti social activities like petty crime and more.

The Stadium board working with UN Habitat is a very welcome partnership. UN Habitat would use the SSMB capacity to work with communities to ensure they use the facilities at their disposal to their advantage and betterment. This is one partnership I am really praying to work to help many young Kenyans who are trapped in the unemployment trap.

For those of us who aren’t thinking too loftily about changing society like UN Habitat and SSMB, there is always Manaz pub with Tuskers at Ksh100. Check it out. It ain’t half bad.

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