Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani has pledged her commitment to the overall sports development of the coastal county by committing more resources to its development.
Governor Achani expressed her administration’s determination to take the sporting sector to glorious heights and cement the place of Kwale as a potential sporting powerhouse.
“As a devolved government, our commitment to the development of all facets of sports is unwavering,” she said further expressing her interest in uplifting the standard of grassroot sports development in the county.
Achani says she is cognizant of the fact that sports could have a hugely positive impact on the communities and could be used as a tool to empower young people and promote physical and mental health and well-being and as well as build social cohesion.
She challenged the youth to take sports for physical fitness and mental alertness noting that the various sporting activities would keep them away from drugs, crime and falling prey to extremist groups.
Achani, who was accompanied by Kwale Woman Rep Fatuma Masito, was speaking during a funds drive for Black Eagles FC in Waa/Ngombeni ward in matuga Sub County.
The leaders helped raise Sh750,000 to enable the team purchase a bus that would help the team ferry players from one point to another during their matches and for hiring purposes as a business venture.
The event was organized by the club’s management and supporters to generate funds to facilitate income-generating activities that would aid the club’s operations.
Achani also assured of her government’s readiness to promote sporting activities across Kwale with a view to encouraging youth participation to showcase their talents.
The Governor said she is committed to supporting sporting talents and urged local clubs to come together to form companies that could engage in business with the county government and other institutions.
“This will help the local sporting clubs to generate a steady income and improve the living standards of both the clubs and the community at large,” she said adding that the local clubs have shown that talents abound in Kwale.
She reiterated her administration’s commitment to deepening sports development by investing in the construction and revamping of sporting facilities in Kwale.
Achani cited the ongoing construction works of the Sh450 million Kwale county stadium which is taking shape at an unparalleled speed.
“Once complete, the state-of-the-art Kwale stadium will be a 21st-century model edifice capable of hosting national and international sporting events,” she said.
She says the standard 3,000 seater capacity stadium would have football and basketball pitches among other amenities such as changing rooms, restaurant, athletics tartan track, medical rooms, washrooms and floodlights.
Achani says sports has the power to change the world, inspire and unite people in a way that nothing else does.
MP Masito called for stakeholders to support the youth in various sporting activities to prevent them from becoming social misfits in life noting that sports provided a way of keeping youth out of crime and drug and substance abuse.
Masito called on the devolved government to continue investing in sports infrastructure and development to enable the youth to compete at the highest levels and achieve greater success.
She sees sports as a tool to engage, educate and empower the youth would in the long run help promote economic and social development in Kwale.
The two leaders cautioned the local youth against engaging in crime and drug and substance abuse as it would ruin their future.
By Hussein Abdullahi
