By Ben Ahenda
Nakuru's Afraha Stadium, a multi-purpose facility, is mostly used for football matches. It is the home of Ulinzi Stars and Red Berets in the Kenyan Premier League.
The stadium is an 8,200-seater and was opened in 1948. It is two kilometres from the famous Lake Nakuru National Park.
Even though it is a football stadium, it became famous for hosting many political meetings including the Gema-fronted change the constitution campaigns in 1970s. Steeplechase zone
The former ruling party Kanu also held many prominent meetings here during the Moi era.
The state of the stadium, formerly known as African Sports Stadium in pre-colonial Kenya, is now deplorable and pathetic, to say the least.
The stadium has survived many previous attempts by politicians to rename it.
The stadium now hosts Premier and Super League matches and several political and church gatherings after over one-and-a-half years' closure due to the invasion by internally-displaced persons in January 2008. The displaced persons, victims of clashes that followed disputed Presidential elections, were close to 4,000 families.
Two-and-a-half years down the line, nothing has been done about it and this leads to many questions directed to managers at Nakuru Municipal Council.
The football pitch is bumpy and the grass has not matured to allow continuous hosting of matches.
Unless the standards are maintained to the level it was previously, it might grow from bad to worse.
The quality of grass is inferior and very slippery, when it rains.
Some sections of the perimeter fence around the stadium are weak and need to be supported by strong pillars to stop fan invasion in case of crowd trouble.
This means it is yet to measure up to the required international standards required by Confederation of African Football (CAF) in order to host continental matches.
Most of the seating stands do not befit the status of the African Stadium that was famous for hosting international matches involving former premier league champions Oserian Fastac, Utalii FC, Ulinzi Stars and the national team, Harambee Stars, among others. The seating stands are wooden and dusty.
At the main stand, which houses the manager's office, the dressing rooms for referees and players and washrooms are in tatters.
Part of the stadium
The dressing rooms have no permanent chairs and occupants use them while standing.
The walls have not been repainted for a long time and have peeling covers.
Sections of the floors have potholes. Some parts of the roof are torn, leaving gaping holes through which one can easily see the sky.
At times there is strong stench from the washrooms, meaning that they are not well maintained and the municipal attendants do not use disinfectants to clean them.
The Tanganyika and Northern Stands which used to be neutral stands for fans not supporting top clubs — Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards — have all been brought down by the IDPs and their pillars were used as firewood.
'Russia' stand, the side facing the main stand, which is permanently built and was not affected by the IDPs, is still unroofed.
Fans seated here during matches know what it means to be there during rainy seasons and the scorching sun on hot days.
A look at other facilities leaves a sad tale. The athletics track is like paddy when it rains.
The surface on the athletics track is red soil and is very sticky when it rains.
The track can only be used on sunny days. In the past, it used to have quality sandy soil, and was levelled.
Seating area. Photos: Boniface Thuku
It leaves many questions unanswered as to what happened to the contractor who won tender to rehabilitate it.
This forced organisers to move the third AK/New KCC weekend meeting on April 3-4 to Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology because the ongoing heavy rain had made it unuseable.
Source: The Standard | Online Edition
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