NAIROBI, Kenya Dec 1 – Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has assured that the stalled Dandora stadium will be completed before the 2022 General Election.
Sakaja, who toured the facility in his capacity as the chair of the Senate Labour Committee on Wednesday alongside other members of the committee, committed to ensure that the pending works remaining at the stadium will be completed before August next year.
“We will do our report today and we will get its adoption and the report will say that this project must be completed. On which contractor does it, we do not care. We only want the project completed,” he said.
The Sh350 million stadium was commissioned in 2018 and should have been commissioned in 2020 in July but works stopped owing to poor workmanship on the part of the contractor.
Sakaja, who has since declared that he will be vying for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat in the 2022 polls noted that he will take personal responsibility and ensure Dandora residents get value for their money.
“The swearing-in of the Governor must be done here when I become Governor next year. I have interest and that is why I want to see it completed. We don’t need to have the swearing-in done at Uhuru Park,” he said.
Investigations by the Ethics Ant-Corruption Commission (EACC) also largely attributed to the stalling of the stadium after the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) raised concerns over the tendering process of the stadium.
The Nairobi Senator however, assured that the watchdog body through assurances given by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Twalib Mbarak had not stopped the constructions at the stadium.
“We as Senators oversight these bodies and my one letter alone will ensure that this project gets to be up and running. I do not like sideshows, and I want to assure everyone that this project will be completed,” he said.
The Dandora Stadium is one of the four stadiums in Nairobi that were allocated Sh1.3 billion in the financial years 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.
The other three are Ziwani which was given Sh186.6 million, Kihumbuini Sh250 million and Kawangware which was also given Sh250 million. Works for the three have never commenced to date.
“The biggest victims of whatever happened to this project is not the contractor or the County, but it is our youths of Dandora. If anything, you have been denied your ground because before the construction started the ground was being used,” Sakaja said.
Nairobi County through the Education and Sports Executive member Janet Ouko decried that it was unfortunate the stadium had stalled and promised to closely work with Sakaja to ensure the stadium gets to be operational.
“We will have the stadium completed because we are committed. Money was allocated to the stadium and I want to assure you that before the next election, we will have this stadium commissioned. I do not want to give false promises, but I guarantee you that this will be done,” she said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in February 2021 had asked the leadership of the Nairobi County government to ensure the Dandora stadium is completed.
