NAIROBI, Kenya, June 30, 2025 – Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya has criticised the destruction of a perimeter wall of the Nyayo Stadium during last Wednesday’s Gen Z protests in Nairobi.
Mvurya said the vandalism witnessed was a setback to the government’s efforts to renovate the facility ahead of the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) in August.
“When we build such stadia, we are using public funds. It is very unfortunate that the same public goes ahead to destroy a public facility. Even when we are in a democratic space, we need to be very careful not to destroy a public facility or even private businesses because then it means we have to spend additional funds to repair the damages,” the CS said.
The stadium was one of public infrastructure that bore the brunt of countrywide protests that turned destructive as goons wrecked havoc.
Mvurya says plans are underway to erect a better perimeter wall in accordance with the standards of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
“That incident is very unfortunate and that is why we are enhancing the wall and in the next two days, some of those places will already be covered. We will also install CCTV so that we can monitor and arrest such kind of situations before they occur,” he said.
Mvurya was speaking on Monday evening following the handover of the completed Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani by the contractor to the government.
The stadium, the biggest in the country, will host Group A matches of CHAN involving Harambee Stars as will Nyayo Stadium — in addition to hosting the Group C encounter between Algeria and Niger.
The CS was elated with the milestone, noting that it is one more sign that CHAN is here with Kenya.
“Today we receive the keys to the stadium and what this means is that everything is all set. We will now hand over the keys to the local organising committee because there are certain things left to do. Otherwise, we are all set to go as you can see that the Ulinzi Complex, which will be the training ground, has been hosting a number of matches already,” Mvurya pointed out.
He added: “At Nyayo, we were given additional recommendations by Caf to build a perimeter wall. But, that will be outside the pitch…otherwise inside the stadium itself, everything is all set to go.”
The continental showpiece kicks off on August 1 with Tanzania hosting Burkina Faso at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar-es Salaam.
Harambee Stars kick off their campaign against Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the Kasarani Stadium on August 3.
Mvurya said the national team will begin preparations in the course of the week.
