Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Saturday, January 13, announced the exclusion of Meru County in his upcoming football tournament targeting counties in the Mount Kenya region.
In a statement, the Public Service CS cited security concerns in the county as the reason for canceling the tournament.
According to him, the decision to leave out Meru County teams was reached after consultations with leaders from the Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
“After consultations with the FKF leadership and for the sake of safety and security of players, we have excluded the 9 Meru Constituency Clubs from the tournament,” he announced in a statement on Saturday.
In his statement, Kuria quoted a video of Tigania East Member of Parliament Mpuru Aburi who was vowing to stop the tournament while addressing a gathering in Meru County.
From the video, Aburi warned Kuria against bringing the tournament in the county and claimed that it was meant to blindfold the people of Meru amid the ongoing investigations into the death of Danial Muthiani, also known as Sniper, who hailed from the county.
At the time, the crowd cheered MP Aburi and even echoed some of his words threatening to scuttle any plans of holding a tournament in the county.
“We are warning you, Meru has its owners,” Aburi said.
Mpuru Aburi has been among Meru leaders who have been vocal in pushing for investigations into the mysterious death of Sniper.
But Kuria, in his statement, reiterated that his tournament was meant to promote peace and positive values.
“The objective of Mt Kenya Moses Kuria Football Tournament is to promote peace and positive values. The exact opposite of the stones you have said you will Stone me with,” CS Kuria wrote on his X account.
Moses Kuria unveils details of Mt Kenya tournament
In an earlier statement on January 6, Kuria made public his plans to hold a tournament targeting nine counties namely Kirinyaga, Nakuru, Murang’a, Kiambu, Nyeri, Embu, Laikipia, Nyandarua, and Meru and 64 constituencies in total.
Named the “Moses Kuria Tournament”, the competition, according to a poster shared by Kuria, would commence on February 4 under the sponsorship of the Moses Kuria Foundation.
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Teams drawn from 64 constituencies in the counties would first compete in eight groups with winners of the overall competition poised to walk away with Ksh5 million as the ultimate prize.
Further in his poster, Kuria noted that the first runners-up would win Ksh3 million while third team in the tournament would walk away with Ksh 1 million.
Rise of politician-sponsored grassroots tournament
Kuria’s announcement came on the back of the several tournaments organized by elected leaders across the country in the last days of 2023.
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While the politicians maintained that the tournaments were aimed at promoting local talents, some tournaments turned into political battlegrounds with leaders keen on advancing their agenda.
Focus now shifts to the Public Service Cabinet Secretary to see the direction his planned tournament will take amid the latest development threatening to plunge his tournament into headwinds.
