Kenya: The Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy, and Sports Ababu Namwamba said he is happy about the progress that he is seeing in the talent spotting, nurturing, and development in the country through the flagship Talanta Hela program.
He made these remarks at Siagonjo Grounds in Busia County. At the time, the cabinet secretary was attending the finals of the Cabinet Secretary’s trophy.
The sports event was sponsored by the Ababu Namwamba Foundation. During the event, he talked about the Ministry’s plan to achieve the set objectives for the growth of football and the creative industry in Kenya. The ministry seeks to do this by reverting to the basics, which is the grassroots level.
“We have just witnessed the fruits of investing in grassroots talent development. The boys and girls have expressed themselves well on the pitch, which we are all proud of. This is the future of our game. We intend to do this in the entire country as we endeavour to propel talent development to greater heights.
“Kenya is in a good place and we are ready to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. I want to give my assurance that we will deliver AFCON’27 in a manner and scale never seen before.We are at advanced stages in refurbishing and building the requisite infrastructure that guarantees a top level tournamnet,” said the CS.
CS Ababu further shared the ministry’s plans apart from stadia development. He claimed they are keen on creating a formidable Harambee Stars team to represent Kenya during the 2027 continental football bonanza. The major sporting event is being hosted in the East African borders for the first time.
“On top of the major infrastructure development, we are also building a formidable, youthful team that will proudly carry our flag at AFCON’27. We have already embarked on a deliberate, intentional, structured and robust program of talent spotting,nurturing and development that will birth a competitive team ready to conquer Africa.
“This is the way to go in ensuring that Kenya achieves its football Vision 2030 dream of qualifying for the World Cup as well as being regulars in competing at the Africa Cup of Nations,” he remarked.