The 2023 Bungoma County Secondary Schools Games Competitions officially kicked off yesterday at the Bungoma High School Grounds in Kanduyi Constituency.
The games have brought teams from all 12 sub-counties.
Speaking during the official opening, the county chief officer in charge of housing and municipalities, Denson Barasa, noted that the county government, under the stewardship of Governor Ken Lusaka, is keen on ensuring that it nurtures sporting talents amongst students.
The Bungoma County Schools Sports Association Chairperson, Mrs. Florence Mukangula, urged all the teachers to ensure that they strictly engage students to participate in the tournament, warning that any school that goes against the rule will be disqualified from the competitions.
Mrs. Mukangula warned that any school principal or teacher whose school is found engaging non-students as players of their various teams will face stiff penalties, including interdiction.
“I call upon all teams to embrace a high sense of discipline and sportsmanship in these games, as our officials and cum Referees will be very vigilant,” said Mrs. Mukangula.
Vice-Secretary Andrew Wafubwa noted that any complaints from the participating teams should be reported as soon as possible for them to be dealt with promptly.
The Western Region Chairman of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association, Mr. Bikala Situma, called on teachers leading the teams to only use students from their schools and avoid any attempts to engage locals.
Mr. Bikala stressed the need for the players to embrace discipline and urged referees to exercise fairness and professionalism when engaging the teams in the field by being fully in charge.
Bungoma KUPPET County Executive Secretary Augustine Kundu Luketelo said that schools have suffered due to a lack of capitation to fund sports.
He said that they have engaged the Ministry of Education to add more money to the kitty to assist teachers in managing the teams and to provide additional cash for the referees officiating the matches.
“Kindly, teachers, don’t bring us non-students to these competitions since we as a union shall not defend you, you ,because this is not a war but only sports competitions, and it is not a matter of life and death to go to the regional competitions,” said Mr. Luketelo.
Bungoma County Director of Education, Mr. Pius Ngoma, and Quality Assurance Standards Director, Mr. Caleb Omondi, urged the officials to ensure that all the participating students have valid documents before the start of various matches. Mr. Ng’oma urged all teams to accept the results.
Some of the participating schools include Bungoma High School in Rugby, St. Mary’s Kibabii High School, St. Teresa’s Kabula High high school, Kapsokwony Boys High School, Bukembe Boys High high school , Lwanda Girls High School, among others.
The competitions are slated to end on Saturday and ,thereafter the winning teams will proceed to the Western Region competitions to be held in Kakamega County.
By Meshack Wekesa
