Once glamorous Ruiru Stadium slowly turning into a ‘garden’

In the run up to the 2022 elections and afterwards, Ruiru stadium in Kiambu hosted high-profile political and celebrity events.

In Kiambu, Ruiru stadium is said to be the public facility that has hosted the highest number of events in the last three years.

Secular, gospel musicians and comedians have held album launches and anniversary celebrations here.

Interestingly, all these events, some attended by prominent figures like Cabinet Secretaries, are held at the peripheries of previously splendid football pitch.

They pitch tents on a bare patch adjacent to the now dilapidated stadium fenced with mesh wire.

Residents who spoke to Wananchi Reporting claimed that youths swore not to allow political, church or social events inside the pitch.

Even before the astroturf on the pitch started wearing out, the facility was off limits to non-sport events.

“Sometime in 2018 a popular pastor pitched a tent inside the field for an event but youths kicked her out. A former area governor tried to intervene but his efforts bore no fruits. The event was held just outside the facility,” Martin Chomba, a local businessman revealed.

In 2017, the stadium was given a facelift using artificial grass surface, floodlights, fence and decent toilets were put up.

Though it is now in wanting state since the carpet is peeling off, making it hard to host matches, some players still practise there while guarding the field.

“We cannot allow them to use the pitch, make millions of shillings from high-profile people attending their events but leave the facility in bad condition. This stadium is purely for sports activities,” Kenneth Mwaura, a soccer player said.

According to Johnson Kinyua, a resident, Ruiru is a strategic place for Kikuyu artists to hold events as it is convenient for their supporters in Kiambu, Murang’a, Machakos and Nairobi.  

Gitothua Ward MCA John Njogu claims the makeover was hurriedly done using low quality astroturf. He now wants the county government to replace it with natural grass.