NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 11 – Ahead of next year’s Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) and by extension the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, both of which Kenya is co-hosting with neighbors Uganda and Tanzania, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has concluded the training of 40 safety and security stewards in Nairobi.
Safety officials from the Football Kenya Federation, representatives from the 18 FKF Premier League clubs, personnel from private stadium security firms as well as officials from the National Police Service (NPS) underwent a three-day workshop under the CAF Safe Stadium Initiative.
The workshop was closed Thursday evening, by the head of the CAF Safety and Security department, Dr Christian Emeruwa. It was conducted by officials from his office, Dixon Okello from Uganda and Xolile Vilakati from eSwatini.
“I am delighted to see a group of very enthusiastic safety officials and I believe that this training has been hugely beneficial to everyone,” Dr Emeruwa said as he closed the workshop.
“This is one of the very important contributions for CAF in the advancement of the change we want to see across Africa in our stadium operations with specific reference to stadium safety. For a long time, we have not paid attention to how safety and security is managed in our stadium. What we have lacked is capacity in terms of know-how to understand what needs to be done, and this is why we started to go across different countries,” he further added.
Forty personnel trained by CAF
The main aim of the workshop was to equip the 40 personnel with safety and crowd handling skills, especially with Kenya set to welcome the rest of the continent for next year’s CHAN.
FKF’s interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Patrick Korir, in his first official function since appointment, thanked CAF for the initiative, saying it will go a long way in ensuring the numbers in stadiums increase, and by extension, revenue collection for clubs rises.
“We have seen in the past where most of crowd trouble being as a result of poor management from the stewards’ side. But now, we are thankful to CAF for imparting this knowledge and capacity building because now, these are not just stewards, but safety and security officers. We expect to see you guys implement what you have learnt from this workshop to make our stadia more accessible and safe,” Korir said.
He has also asked the 40 trained officials to coordinate and assist each other, even if their clubs are not involved. “If you see something during a Gor Mahia vs AFC Leopards match and you are a City Stars steward, I expect you to step in and help. We should work together hand in hand because now, we have been trained to serve the nation,” Korir stated.
Emeruwa challenges clubs to facilitate processes
Meanwhile, Emeruwa has challenged clubs to facilitate their safety officers in terms of funding, to ensure the models they have learnt as well as crowd control measures are put to positive effect.
The CAF safety boss also disclosed that the 40 trained officers will undergo further training with FIFA to equip them with more knowledge, and will be entered into their database to hand them more opportunities.
Kenya is the 10th African country to host the workshop, and CAF intends to roll it out to the rest of the 44 African countries by September 2025.
