Puzzle of empty seats at sold-out Kasarani Stadium

The regular tickets were selling at Sh200 while the VIP and VVIP tickets were retailing at Sh500 and Sh1,000 respectively. Come the match day, the fan turnout was impressive, and Harambee Stars did not disappoint as they defeated DRC 1-0. 

Attacking midfielder Austine Odhiambo scored the winning goal at the stroke of halftime. However, one question that many Kenyans were left asking was whether the match was truly sold out. 

A spot-check by the Daily Nation during the match revealed that several seats were unoccupied, including in the VIP area, and near the media tribune. Ahead of the crunch clash, there were claims from several Kenyans online that the government operatives had bought the tickets in bulk to redistribute to particular individuals. 

Some suggested that the move was aimed at neutralising potential anti-government chants during the match. This claim gained traction after videos emerged of a section of politicians affiliated with the regime flaunting hard-copy tickets online.

But speaking on NTV’s morning show, “Fixing The Nation” on Monday, Kenya’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Nicholas Musonye dismissed claims of ticket hoarding ahead of the match. 

While Musonye admitted that the stadium was not fully occupied, he said match tickets are never totally sold out as a standard practice for safety reasons. 

“This issue of hoarding tickets or giving tickets to some people is not there,” said Musonye. “We opened the tickets to the market, and it was done by CAF, not us. This is a CAF competition, the tickets were opened to the market, so those who went first got their tickets. Unfortunately, 48,000 tickets were sold out, so we could not do anything about it,” he added.

He said a follow-up on claims that some individuals were selling tickets on Sunday yielded no truth. 

“I don’t think that (ticket hoarding) happened yesterday because I was even called that some guys were selling tickets, but when I went to confirm, I found it was not true … we also need to think of the security of our people. If a stadium is holding 48,000 seats, we cannot sell the same number of tickets; we must give it breathing space, we cannot sell 100 per cent,” explained the former Cecafa Secretary General. 

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He said that by the time the ticketing sale was closed on Saturday evening, about 46,000 tickets had been sold. However, a listener named David, who called during the live show, confirmed buying his ticket on Sunday from an individual in town for Sh250. 

“Tickets were being sold at the flyover near Safari Park Hotel. Mine I got yesterday (Sunday) for Sh250 at town,” said David, exuding confidence that he will get the ticket for Kenya’s Thursday match against Angola in the same way. 

Hundreds of DRC fans are among those who were locked out of the match after not being able to buy tickets. 

William Saidi, the president of the Youth Diaspora Congolese in Kenya, said even the intervention of their embassy in the country was not successful, forcing two buses full of their compatriots to return home on Sunday. He said only about 200 Congolese fans gained access to the stadium, far short of the target of 2000. 

“We were hopeful that our embassy would solve the stalemate, but nothing happened. It was very frustrating for our fans who were not able to access the stadium because they had the money to buy the tickets,” said Saidi.

He promised that his team would investigate any illegal sale of the tickets and take the necessary action. 

“The only tickets we gave out were complimentary for the VIP area. Those were the only hard tickets we gave out for people like Ministers and MPs. If there was any black market, we need to investigate.”

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