Why build stadiums amid extreme poverty?

Recently, my friend captured the state of this government in a profound way: he mused that the government is so incompetent that it can’t even deliver a good disaster. It is that hopelessly inept.

We were promised a good El Nino disaster sometimes in June, and the date has been shifting ever since without a disaster in sight. Now, we are getting tired of waiting for it. If you promise us a disaster, be ready to deliver it, period. We won’t let you off the hook until you have given us our disaster.

Of course, the government – nobody in the world actually – can predict weather with certainty. Also, nobody really wants a disaster. But, because people have lost faith in the government, there is a tendency to take everything they tell us with a sack of salt. When we see them making all manner of pronouncements, we know that beneath them, there are serious attempts to hoodwink the people who put them in power.

When they promised us El Nino, we think they just sat down over a bottle of champagne and the head honcho asked those around the table: ‘where can we get easy money for the campaigns?’ and everyone must have scratched their heads, thought hard until one fellow raised his glass full of bourbon and announced: ‘let’s give them El Nino’. And since the government budgets for disasters, it’s a no-brainer that when there’s no disaster, there’s no spending. This is where we have reached as a nation, where we take anything they tell us with a huge pinch of salt.

When we are told that two people have died of Ebola in Kenya, all we can think of is: ‘is this really true? Has anyone really died or all they want is to take money from the Americans and World Health Organisation and stash it away for campaigns?’. We can’t help it because we have lost faith in the government and everything it does.

Of course, there are those who argue that the government has delivered on a few miserable projects here and there and that perhaps I am bit too harsh on it. We saw our President ‘delivering’ the stadium the other day and promised topflight football for the opening ceremony sometimes in January, which I understand we will be at least a billion out of pocket. We should have just settled for Gor Mahia and Tusker FC: they have a massive following and they would have cost us a few million shillings at most, but what do I know.

Granted the sting was taken out of the announcement when the news leaked, but it was a good public relations coup. Someone should have however briefed the President to look a bit sportier, not wearing designer shoes not meant for kicking footballs but that’s neither here nor there. He delivered a stadium in a record two years.

But, to ask a question, like some fellow did when President Mwai Kibaki delivered the Thika Superhighway, are we going to eat a stadium? Will it add a plate of ugali to neighbouring Kibera residents? The answer is no; it won’t.

We understand every head of state needs to leave a legacy. The Talanta stadium will, of course, be associated with President Ruto.

It is a fantastic edifice that will redefine the skyline of Nairobi city. It looks grand by any standards. That is the good news. Now, for the bad news: this thing will cost us upwards of Sh140 billion by the time we are through paying the debt in 15 years. It was grossly overpriced however you look at it.

Just imagine what this money could have done in terms of real impact on, say, poverty alleviation, improving security in the country, building thousands of classrooms, taking care of our healthcare facilities and providers, you name it; it would have been money well spent.

The effect on the people would have been immediate. More children would go and remain in school. Nurses would be paid their dues. Policemen would have better housing. But what we have is a glinting new stadium instead. I truly hope it doesn’t turn out to be a white elephant.

-The writer is a communications consultant