A stone throw away from Bomet County Governor’s office, off Narok-Bomet-Kisii Road, is Bomet IAAF Stadium, a dilapidated sports facility whose construction has stalled for seven years, having gobbled up Sh300 million from the public coffers.
As one approaches the facility which is a poor excuse for a stadium, a grey unmanned metallic gate opens outwards, and a perimeter wall with rusty iron bars protruding from the top points to a massive but abandoned project.
Inside the facility, overgrown vegetation to the left of the football pitch greets you. There is an incomplete VIP dais next to which the VIP holding rooms, changing rooms for players, toilets, and other facilities sit.
On a rainy day, the football pitch becomes one big pool of stagnant water for lack of proper drainage, posing difficulty to players and athletes who use it for lack of an option. Parts of the cemented public terraces are cracked and crying out for attention.
Stadium remains an eyesore
Bomet County is home to the 2019 World Athletics Championships 1,500 metres gold medallist Timothy Cheruiyot, 3,000m steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, and 2013 World Athletics Championships 5,000m silver medallist Mercy Cherono, pointing to the huge athletics potential the region has. In it current condition, the stadium represents a lost opportunity of nurturing future athletics stars in the region.
Football fans expected National Super League team AP Bomet FC which was promoted to the Football Kenya Federation Premier League from the National Premier League (NSL) last week to use the stadium as its home-ground, but the team will now have to travel long distances to William Ole Ntimama Stadium in neighbouring Narok County, Gusii Stadium in Kisii County, or to Kiprugut Chumo Stadium in Kericho to play its home matches.
Three cabinet secretaries and two principal secretaries later, the State Department for Sports has not implemented a 2023 directive by President William Ruto that the national government takes over the stadium and completes its construction. Three governors (Isaac Ruto, the late Joyce Laboso, and Hillary Barchok) later, the stadium remains an eyesore and sticks out like a sore thumb.
On January 15, 2023, President Ruto directed the Sports ministry to take over the stadium from Bomet County Government, and to complete construction work within one year, then hand it back to the county government.
The main terrace at Bomet IAAF Stadium.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation Media Group
But, three years down the line, the state of the stadium continues to deteriorate with the order yet to be implemented by the line ministry, which has not formally taken over the stadium as directed – raising a lot of questions and curiosity from various stakeholders.
Ababu Namwamba who was Cabinet Secretary for Sports at the time, his successor Kipchumba Murkomen and current office holder Salim Mvurya, along with former Principal Secretary in the department, Peter Tum and Elijah Mwangi (current) have been unable to execute the order.
Following the elevation of AP Bomet FC to Football Kenya Federation Premier League from the National Super League last week, the team was expected to use the stadium as their home-ground, but it will now use facilities in neighbouring counties - William Ole Ntimama (Narok County), or Kiprugut Chumo (Kericho). Although AP Bomet has been using the stadium for its lower-tier league matches, it does not meet the standards of hosting top-tier FKF-PL matches.
Construction of the stadium that is expected to seat 37,000 fans, started in 2015 as a key development pillar of former Governor Isaac Ruto’s administration. By the time it was starved of funding in 2017 by Governor Joyce Laboso’s administration, it had gobbled up more than Sh300 million.
Redesign of the VIP holding room
Records show Governor Ruto’s administration pumped Sh285 million into the project, and Dr Laboso’s spent Sh15 million on it but it remains incomplete.
There Department of Public Works identified structural defects on the stadium which are yet to be corrected. An audit by the Public Works Department in 2017 showed that the government had finished 40 percent of the project, and 60 percent was to be done by Laboso’s administration at an estimated cost of Sh257 million, at the time (2018/2019 financial year).
Structural tests conducted by the Kisii regional laboratory of the Material Testing and Research Division of the Public Works Department seven years ago revealed that the main pavilion and part of the terraces were structurally weak and should be demolished and redone. It also revealed that the redesign of the main pavilion had altered the original structures of the facility and rendered it weak while the VIP dais was too high.
The National Construction Authority (NCA) also recommended that a storm water drainage be constructed with a redesign of the VIP holding room, a restaurant and youth empowerment centre in line with the Talanta programme in the Department of Sports.
Though yet to be constructed, changing rooms for the players were also placed in the wrong section of the stadium in the design. A swimming pool was also factored into the designs.
Apart from the security problems, the VIP section has a problem with design and its location. It is also too close to the track, with little space for officials and athletes to manoeuvre.
“Netball court should be factored into the redesign of the stadium by the ministry of sports as it takes over the project, as the discipline is picking up momentum,” Mr Daniel Kirui, chairman of Kenya Netball Federation, Bomet County Branch, said.
Paul Sang who is chairman of Kenya Primary School Sports Association Bomet Branch chairman said completion of the stadium would enhance the capacity of Bomet County to host regional and national sports competitions.
A side section of the VIP dais at Bomet IAAF Stadium in this picture taken on June 16, 2025.
Photo credit: Vitalis Kimutai | Nation Media Group
Sang noted that even with the current state of the stadium, it has hosted primary and secondary schools competitions at the regional level, demonstrating the need for the national and county governments to finish the work.
“The stadium whose construction has stalled will immediately be taken over by the national government for completion,” President Ruto said during a thanksgiving prayer at Bomet Green Stadium on January 15, 2023.
“Once the construction is complete, the facility will be handed back to the county government,” he added. But the directive has not been implemented, and the facility remains in the hands of the county government.
Ruto’s directive was followed by a tour of the facility by Namwamba on March 7, 2023 “to initiate a takeover by the national government.”
A technical team from various government departments had earlier toured the facility to undertake an audit on the outstanding works to be implemented by the national government, before Namwamba made the tour.
Namwamba said after a meeting Governor Barchok, and technical teams from both the county and national governments that construction of the stadium would be done to high standards in line with government’s new policy to promote talent development among youth.
“The stadium is a key priority project for the Kenya Kwanza administration which will be developed under strict guidelines from the various government department,” Namwamba said at the time.
“We must ensure that it (construction) meets the required standards and cater for the various sports especially football, athletics and basketball.”
“Both President Ruto’s and CSs promises on the completion of the projects seem to have been public relations stunts as no action followed it. It remains a white elephant in the region with all eyes on the President,” former Mayor of Bomet Municipality, Kipkemoi Barsumei, said.
“The President has repeated the order thrice – twice in Bomet and once in Sotik in the last three years, but it has not triggered any action all in what raises serious questions on the seriousness of the current administration to complete this key project,” Barsumei said.
A source at Sports Kenya said that the ministry had not yet taken over the project, but the department was actively pursuing the matter. Bomet County Government had requested that the project be relocated to Kyogong area on the outskirts of Bomet town to pave the way for a new facility altogether, but Sports ministry rejected the proposal “because it was not what the president had directed to be done.”
The county has purchased a parcel of land in the area, but it is a swampy and waterlogged.
On Friday, Governor Barcho said that the matter was being handled by his administration and the national government.
