Kenya’s hopes of hosting the African Cup of Nations (CHAN 2018) were dashed after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) executive committee stripped it of the right to host the tournament citing ‘delays in preparations.’
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This ridiculous comment by Kenya's Sports PS on CHAN 2018 was met with fury by Kenyans
Kenya was over the weekend stripped it of the right to host CHAN 2018 due to delays in preparations.
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CAF said the decision was made in light of “accumulated delays” in Kenya’s preparations for CHAN early next year. It also expressed concern about the political situation in Kenya, where recently annulled presidential elections are set to be re-run next month.
The decision to take away the tournament from Kenya was announced at a media conference after a one-day meeting headed by CAF's president Ahmad.
A CAF inspection team visited Kenya from 11 to 17 September 2017 and found that only one of the four venues was ready to stage the event.
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On its hand, Football Federation of Kenya (FKF) insisted "it did everything humanly possible to ensure that CHAN 2018 became a reality both to Kenyans and the entire East African Region."
Addressing the media in Nairobi on Monday, officials from the Ministry of Sports and FKF said that the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) decision to strip Kenya of the hosting rights were purely guided by the country’s political situation, and not the poor state of sports facilities in the country.
During the press briefing, Permanent Secretary for Sports Ministry notably made a contrasting statement. The PS remarked that whilst all the facilities to be used for the tournament including hotels and transport systems were in control, he stated that the only missing thing were stadiums.
His statement was not well received by a section of Kenyans who tore into him while terming the PS’s comment as ‘ridiculous.’
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