Presidential political
adviser Karisa Nzai at Bangladesh slums in Jomvu, Mombasa on Saturday / BRIAN
OTIENO
Presidential political
adviser Karisa Nzai at Bangladesh slums in Jomvu, Mombasa on Saturday / BRIAN
OTIENOLack of sufficient
facilities is to blame for lost talent at the grassroots, which leads to
frustrations that eventually push youth into crime and other vices like drug
abuse.
Presidential
adviser Karisa Nzai on Sunday said talent, if nurtured, can lift a generation
out of poverty.
“This is my plea to
the government through the Sports CS Salim Mvurya and Youth Affairs PS Jacobs
Fikirini. Please, do not let these hidden talents go to waste because of lack
of infrastructures,” Nzai said.
He spoke at Bangladesh
ground on Saturday during the culmination of the Sh1.6 million football
tournament that concluded at the weekend with Green Bombers beating Golden Boys
1-0 to clinch the title.
“As a government,
please, do not allow Jomvu to remain behind. We do not have a single modern
football ground in Jomvu,” Nzai said.
He said political
differences and competition should not interfere with development.
“We are now in
broad-based. We should be working together with all people to ensure the common
good is achieved because at the end of the day, we are serving the same
people,” Nzai, who eying the Jomvu MP seat occupied by Badi Twalib, said.
He said sports is
one of the potential economic hubs that can catapult the country’s economy if
only the talents are nurtured.
And to nurture
talent, he said, there is need for proper facilities.
“We have raw
talents in Jomvu. We have raw talents in Mombasa. These talents need just to be
identified and nurtured for us to have world beaters in the future,” Nzai said.
He called on CS Mvurya
to send his officers to identify grounds that can be upgraded so as to have
many sports disciplines represented even at the grassroots level.
He said sports is
not only about football but many other disciplines too where talents exist in
their raw form, only that football is the most popular sport in the ghettos.
Sports, he also
noted, brings people together and has been used to unite warring communities in
some parts of the world.
“Sports is a
powerful thing. We have had civil wars stopped because one sports star spoke
candidly to the warring groups at a time when the superstar was representing
the country at a world cup,” Nzai said, not the power that sports can have.
He said there is
need for youth to come together to foster unity.
Nzai brought football
scouts from the London, England to try and identify grassroots talents that can
be nurtured into football greats in the future.
He intends to have a select team from Jomvu that can be formed to go and play friendly matches in the UK.
Kenya is actively nurturing sports talent through nationwide, government-led programs focusing on grassroots development, holiday camps, and improved infrastructure. The Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) identifies young talent aged between 12-19 through schools, aiming for 5,000 students in camps to train in football, athletics, and other sports.
