Residents of Kichukwa village in Lunga Lunga subcounty are up in arms after donating nine acres of land for the construction of a Sh38 million sports field, only for it to stall.
Six years down the line, the grounds, meant to nurture local sporting talent and perhaps produce the next Vinicius Junior in football, are just an empty plot full of wild shrubs and weeds.
This is far from the state-of-the-art sports complex promised, with a presentation that showed a centre rivalling the Santiago Bernabéu.
Located near the Kenya-Tanzania border, the sports field lies in a state of neglect, far from its envisaged purpose of nurturing talent.
Residents say the project was abandoned after the contractor left the site in 2020, after constructing a four-door toilet, an incomplete changing room and erected two goalposts that now stare at each other.
“The ground is not levelled. Stones and construction debris are strewn all over, posing serious threats to any potential users,” Athman Ruwa, a village elder, said on Monday.
“We were informed during the groundbreaking that the project had been allocated Sh38 million. Six years later, we are being told it is still in Phase One,” Ruwa said.
Except for a few goats who sporadically feed on the shrubs, the grounds are silent.
The toilet has since collapsed after heavy downpours in the area and the would-be changing room for players is choked with overgrown vegetation.
Locals now want the Kwale county government probed over the project.
“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate the use of funds allocated for the project in 2019 by the county government,” Ruwa said.
They have also complained of being sidelined in county development projects and their attempts to seek an audience with their elected leaders have not borne fruit.
Mangale Chiforomodo, the sitting MP, was the executive in charge of education when the project was floated. Residents say he was the idea proposer and they wholeheartedly supported it.
Ruwa appealed for intervention from Governor Fatuma Achani to have the project completed. “There are billions of shillings allocated to the counties but in most cases the funds do not meet intended purposes,” he said.
He noted that these stalled projects kill the dreams of youth who want a better future.
Youth leader Rashid Mwajereko said young people are not being given the attention they deserve by the authorities.
“We want to know, are we the youth in Lunga Lunga in Tanzania or Kenya? If we are in Kenya, we want the sports field to be completed. The project was allocated a lot of money and it should have been operational by now,” he said.
Sports pays today, Mwajereko noted, having seen youth in Kwale excel in sports and make a better life for themselves and their families.
“Sports also keeps youth away from harmful behaviours like drug abuse and crime. That is why the national government came up with the Talanta Hela programme. But how can talanta be hela (money) if we don’t get facilities that we are supposed to have?”
Mwajereko said Lunga Lunga has produced sports heroes like Bandari FC striker Beja Nyamawi, who was called up by the national team Harambee Stars for the recent international friendly match with Chad.
Another resident, Juma Zigambwe, said many campaign pledges remain unfulfilled, urging elected leaders to push for the development of the village to be at par with others.
Abdalla Mwambega said they were informed that the project is complete, yet on the ground, things are completely different.
“They said out of the Sh38 million, Sh32 million was for the sports field and Sh6 million for the construction of a toilet, which caved in after a heavy downpour,” he said.
He called on Sports CS, Salim Mvurya, who is the former Kwale governor, to engage the county to complete the project.
The administration said it has plans for the stalled project and that it would soon be revived.
“It is in our agenda but wait for the official communication from the county,” an official, who sought anonymity, told the Star.
