The contractor building the Mwai Kibaki Othaya Stadium has until December this year to complete the Sh55 million project whose construction has stalled for months.

Deputy President Professor Kithure Kindiki said that the government had held discussions with officials from Sports Kenya and the contractor to unlock the gridlock that had occasioned the delay in delivering the project and the parties had settled for December 2026 as the new handing-over date.

“We have agreed that the stadium must be completed by December this year so that our youth can utilize the facility to nurture their sporting talent. We have also agreed that we shall host a Christmas day football match in that stadium and I will be in attendance to watch,” said Prof Kindiki.

The stadium is one of the projects that President Dr William Ruto promised to deliver to Othaya residents while on a developmental tour of the Central Region in April 2025.

Construction of the 700-capacity stadium was commissioned by Prof Kindiki in June 2025 and was expected to be handed over in September that year.

However, a spot-check by KNA in August this year revealed that the stadium was still at the initial stages of construction albeit at a snail’s-pace.

 The stadium which is named in honour of the third president, Mwai Kibaki, features a standard football pitch with natural grass and four multi-purpose courts which will be utilized for volleyball, basketball, tennis and handball.

Once completed, it will also have an athletics track, an indoor multi-purpose hall for hosting meetings, fine arts theatre performances and indoor games.

Speaking in Nyeri when he accompanied the DP for the ground breaking ceremony last year, Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya said that besides nurturing local sports talents, the facility will act as a platform for building the country’s talent scouting network where the scouts will be able to identify and recruit top talents from the constituency.

“The government’s manifesto has given consideration for talents ranging from sports, to music and many others. Through such initiatives, scouts will now be able to visit counties, identify talents in different disciplines and sign up the budding athletes into national leagues where they can start to make money from their skills,” stated the CS.

Sports Principal Secretary, Elijah Mwangi cautioned contractors working to uplift various sports infrastructure in the country to international standards against delivering shoddy work. Similarly, he also asked the contractors to ensure that they deliver complete stadiums in time noting that the Ministry would not be granting time extensions at the lapse of the agreed timelines.

“I want to caution contractors who have given us the commitment that the various stadiums we are constructing will be complete and that there will be no extension,” said Mwangi.

Prof Kindiki spoke in Othaya on Wednesday while on an inspection tour of on-going development projects in the constituency.

The tour covered an inspection of the Sh 1 billion expansion of the Mwai Kibaki Level VI hospital with the DP revealing that the government was investing in the upgrade as one of its ways of easing access to healthcare services for the residents.

“We have brought modern diagnostic and treatment equipment so patients do not have to travel to Kenyatta National Hospital or Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral hospital for treatment. We are also expanding the facility to ensure that it has the capacity to handle more patients, “he said.

Under the affordable housing the DP said that the government is constructing a total of 264 units at a cost of Sh800million.In addition, he said the state is equally constructing a 340-bed capacity student hostel which will host students from the Kenya Medical Training College.

 “The housing project alone has provided an opportunity for more than 200 of our young people to be meaningfully engaged by providing them with income opportunities through construction-related work,” noted Prof Kindiki.

Prof Kindiki also checked the progress of construction of the Sh 324 million Othaya modern market which he termed as a magnificent facility. The market which is expected to be complete by December this year, will host 750 traders, providing them with a dignified working environment to ply their trade.

“The market is being constructed as per international standards. The market is the kind of markets you find in any developed world and it will have a cold room to preserve perishable foods, a crèche for new mothers, an ICT hub for our youth who want to do online business,” said the DP.

The DP reiterated that the projects are geared at improving the lives of Kenyans and to tackle some of the social issues affecting Kenyans including the high rates of unemployment in the country.

by Wangari Mwangi