What happens now? - Sports suspended in Kenya

The state of Kenyan sports was once again thrown into a limbo when President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Friday afternoon, announced, among a raft of other things, that all sporting related activities in the country were suspended..

“I was working on a Machakos Rally story.” –That rally was supposed to take place over the weekend.

“Manze the president is banning sporting activities nikimaliza preview ya rugby.” (The president is banning sporting activities just as I am finishing the rugby preview)

“Story zangu za leo zimekufa.” (My stories for today are useless)

These were some of the responses in our newsroom to the shocking announcement. Suddenly, everything that seemed certain disappeared into thin air, just like that.

The one that hit me was this, “We rely on sports for a living! What happens now?”

And just not to us, but to the thousands of individuals outside sports who are also going to be affected by decisions such as closing down restaurants and all that.

The suspension of sports brings very dark memories to sportsmen in the country. Even with sports going on normally, stories of struggling are normally swirling around. But again, this is just a reminder of how fleeting things in life can be. My heart goes out to anyone who has been knocked a bit off balance with the announcements as I have while writing this, and to anyone who is wondering what happens next, hung in there!

His Excellency Mr. President, some sporting activities adhered to everything that was required. You have washed all of them down the drain just like that.

 For now, all you need to do is to keep safe, because sport has no meaning without you! Take maximum care!