Sports Cabinet Secretary for Sports Kipchumba Murkomen has blamed ‘enemies from within’ for spreading false rumours that the East African nation has been stripped off co-hosting rights for the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament.
Kenya were picked alongside neighbours Uganda and Tanzania to host the tournament organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from January 1st to February 28th. The biennial tournament is for players plying their trade in their domestic leagues and is a dry run for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which the country will also co-host with Uganda and Tanzania.
On getting the hosting rights, the Kenyan government moved to close main stadiums – Kasarani and Nyayo – for renovation work. The renovation is still going on but a recent tour by the CAF inspection team gave Kenya until December 31st to finish the work.
It later emerged the CAF had opted to strip off Kenya and give hosting rights to Rwanda. “CAF has decided to pick Rwanda as the replacement of Kenya as a co-host nation alongside Uganda and Tanzania for the CHAN 2025 tournament slated for February 2025 because Kenya cannot beat the December 31 deadline this year to fully complete the renovation of Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani and Nyayo Stadium,” a key CAF official told People Daily.
The African body is, however, yet to issue an official statement over the matter but CAF President Patrice Motsepe is scheduled to tour the country later this month to inspect the facilities for the final time.
Kenya is not bothered with CHAN rumours
According to Murkomen, Kenya remains on track to meet CAF requirements and co-host the tournament and those spreading the rumours that the rights had been given to Rwanda are “unpatriotic Kenyans, who always look for negative news to spread.”
“I didn’t get bothered (when I saw people saying Kenya had been replaced) because I knew it was propaganda, you know there are also enemies from our country who are unpatriotic, who are looking for negative news on us and they don’t do anything positive,” Murkomen told Flashscore.
“There work is to amplify the negative part, the don’t focus on the positive and i have now been in this place for almost 15 years in political space and because of that I have the experience to see and most of these lies are being orchestrated by fellow Kenyans but as a country we keep learning and we keep educating our people and we hope our media houses will also do positive reporting.”
Murkomen continued: “At least there are no media houses at the moment that I can accuse of that the tournament (CHAN) had been taken away except social media, they are the people who are propagating these rumours.”
State of Kenyan Sports
: Will Kasarani Stadium be ready in 22 days to host Chan? CS Murkomen: We are doing our best. In today’s management meeting, the contractor committed to securing the remaining materials. For CAF, we’re not expecting the entire stadium to be finished, but there is a required standard that must be met. #SportOn
During his trip to Kenya on September 16th, the CAF President expressed his satisfaction at Kenya’s preparations to host the tournament.
“I am confident that this CHAN will be the most successful CHAN in the history of this competition both on the field as well as the media coverage and the interest we are expecting in Africa but also globally,” Motsepe told the media after touring Kasarani and Nyayo.
“So, I will be coming back again, there is a lot of engagement that will be going on between CAF and Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.”
He added: “We have an exciting competition ahead, featuring some of Africa’s most successful and popular nations. CHAN attracts significant media coverage both in Africa and globally. We couldn’t have chosen better hosts than Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, and I am confident this CHAN will be the most successful in the competition’s history.
“The Talanta Stadium is a world-class one. I am proud of the ongoing construction. I am grateful to President Ruto for his commitment to Kenyan football and the resources invested in upgrading stadiums for CHAN and AFCON 2027.”
During his visit, he also visited Kenya’s Head of State William Ruto, who assured him of making sure the venues are ready for use before the tournament.
“We commit that Kasarani and Nyayo will be ready by the end of this year for the CHAN in 2025, while Talanta Sports City Stadium will be completed by December 2025 for 2027 AFCON,” said Ruto.
Kenya is among the African nations that staged their 2026 AFCON qualifiers away from home owing to lack of a stadium. They played all their Group J matches in South Africa and Uganda. Harambee Stars failed to qualify for a seventh appearance at the 35th edition of the tournament after finishing third with Cameroon and Zimbabwe qualifying for the Morocco tournament.
The DR Congo and Morocco are the most successful teams in this tournament with two titles each, followed by Tunisia, Libya and incumbent champions Senegal with one title each. The tournament began life in 2009 with eight teams, which was doubled for the 2nd edition up until the 6th and is currently contested by 18 teams since the 2022 edition.
Since the 2014 edition, matches of every edition of this tournament from qualification to the final are computed to calculate the forthcoming FIFA World Rankings following its conclusion, which CAF exclaimed at the time as an important step for the competition’s development.
At the time, FIFA considered the tournament friendly since it is restricted to players from local leagues to participate. The tournament is held biennially and alternates with the Africa Cup of Nations.