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Kasarani stadium headache as music festival clashes with Gor Mahia fixture

March 29th, 2019 1 min read

Gor Mahia are in danger of missing a venue for their Caf Confederation Cup quarter final clash against RS Berkane.

This is because the Kasarani stadium has been pre-booked for a cultural event on the same date.

Sports Kenya, the body mandated to manage all national stadia, have communicated the same to the club.

Worse, another sporting event involving the Kabadii national team has been rescheduled because the Kasarani gymnasium will be hosting a prayer fete involving high ranking individuals.

Gor Mahia are set to play their Moroccan opponents on April 7. Kasarani stadium has been booked for a cultural event for a whole week, including the day of the match.

Gor Mahia cannot move the match to any other venue because Kasarani stadium is the only facility in the country cleared by football authorities to stage international matches.

“We will try and help Gor Mahia but this isn’t their right. Our Ministry handles Sports and Cutural events and thus the artistes have an equal right to book and use this venue,” said an official from the Sports Ministry.

“As a matter of fact the funds we get from sports activities are not even enough to maintain this facility. Gor will only give us Sh45,000 on the day of the match but we can earn up to Sh1 million per day for a cultural of corporate event,” he added.

This impasse will further put spotlight on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s pre-election pledge to build five state of the art stadiums in the country.

Worse, many government owned stadiums in the bad shape with Sports Secretary Amina Mohammed and her Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia admitting the unavailability of funds to spruce them up.