Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba graced the Kenya Secondary School Sports Association ball games at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega County. The event took place on Sunday, August 13, 2023.
The event was graced by various dignitaries, including Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, CS Ministry of Education Ezekiel Machogu, Kakamega, Trans-Nzoia and Lamu Governors Fernandez Barasa, George Natembeya, Issa Timam as well as UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala among other national and county leaders.
CS Ababu thanked the people of Kakamega for creating a great football atmosphere, as witnessed by the sea of humanity that turned up for the games.
“This shows our solidarity, passion and commitment to the next generation. I am particularly impressed by the Trans-Nzoia Governor, H.E. George Natembeya, for his presence to support his County team and witnessing them emerge the overall winners,” he said.
The CS Namwamba added that the kind of support witnessed for the games was a testament to Kakamega’s place as the hotbed of football talents. He thanked the massive youth contingent that graced the event, which doubled up as the climax for the International Youth Day 2023 celebrations.
“As we reach the climax of our National Youth Week with the International Youth Day celebrations, I want to assure our youth that through our flagship #TalantaHela initiative, these massive youthful talents displayed here today will not just end with the National Ball games, but will be progressed to the next stage because we are deliberate, intentional and structured in our goal to create a pipeline where they can monetize their talents to put #PesaMfukoni for this generation,” he remarked
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“The collaboration between our ministry and the Ministry of Education reflects the whole Government approach to serving our citizenry. We have injected over KES 267 million to support these games and the entire talent identification in our school ecosystem, including Drama and Music festivals.
CS Namwamba congratulated the schools that made the Nationals finals, announcing that his ministry through the Kenya Academy of Sports had activated a scouting network that had already identified over 2000 talents that will be invited to a talent camp at the KAS.
“This is a platform that we are giving this talented youth to have their talents scouted by the top clubs in the country as well as regional and internal clubs. We have also instructed the Harambee Stars to scout these talents in preparation for our first-ever Harambee Stars U17 team,” he said. “We must start from the basics, and the best basics are from our schools,” he added.
St. Anthony Boys High School, Kitale, were crowned the 2023 National boys football games winners after beating Dagoretti Boys High School, Nairobi, 2:0, while Butere Girls High School emerged winners in the National girls’ football teams finals, beating Wiyeta Girls High School by a goal to nill
CS Ababu announced that his ministry was in the process of constructing a Multi-Sports Academy in schools that reached finals as a way of motivating youth and to actualize the #TalantaHela spirit of monetizing talents and building sustainable livelihoods and careers from them.
