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It Is All Set For The KICOSCA/CASA Tournament In Thika.


Preparations for the 4th Edition of the Kenya Inter-County Sports and Cultural Association and County Assemblies Sports Association Games (KICOSCA/CASA) in Thika are in top gear. Several multi-stakeholder dialogues are being held and organised with the Kiambu County Government and the Thika West top security team giving utmost priority to security, hospitality, trade and commerce.

KICOSCA/CASA which is scheduled for the 14th – 21st August, 2016 will bring together members of 47 county governments who include; the staff, MCAs, County Executive Committee members, and Governors. The annual event, which includes sports such as ajua, darts, table tennis, athletics, football, netball, tug of war (men and women), volley ball, badminton, pool, squash, basketball, music set-pieces and traditional dances, borrowed songs and cultural dances, is geared towards creating awareness to thus creating better understanding among counties. 

The games will be held at the Thika Stadium and at Thika High School, Gretsa University, St. Lukes Cravers Hotel, Chania High, Chania Girls, Thika Technical and Thika Community Hall. Kiambu County will host over 20,000 staff from all the 47 Counties and over 100,000 fans and sports lovers.

According to Thika West Deputy County Commissioner Tom Anjere and Thika Sub-County administrator Rose Muthoni Kimani, great progress has been made in a number of areas since Thika was chosen to host the games, including high-level stakeholder dialogue involving heads of departments in both the county and national governments and non-governmental organisations including the private sector.

This, they said, will allow all relevant actors to identify all the concrete tools available to take an integrated approach to making the event the most memorable and selling Thika and Kiambu County as a destination of choice in hospitality, sports and investment.

Speaking at the Thika Community Hall while meeting managers and owners of bars and restaurants in Thika West District, the leaders said that they were addressing matters related to security, healthy environment, accommodation and a conducive business environment as a priority so as to make sure that visitors who came to Thika Town were accommodated with the best environment as possible.

“We have taken great steps to ensure the security and safety of the visitors and residents during and after the games. We know that we will host more than a 100,000 people here who will include people who may not be here with good intentions. My security team here is well prepared for any eventuality but we also request you as the people who will provide the accommodation, to be vigilant and on the lookout for any suspicious characters who might try to play dirty tricks within your premises,” said Anjere.

Mr. Anjere said that they were currently doing a swoop to rid the town of the street families, beggars and commercial sex workers who he said were now turning out to be a threat to security.

He promised of police protection and asked anyone who witnessed any crime to call the police for action.

Thika OCPD Erastus Muthamia and DAPC Samuel Ombonya warned their officers who were accused of harassing businesspersons and the general public that they would face the full wrath of the law. The bar owners had accused the police of harassing them and demanding ‘protection fee’ in the course of doing their patrols. The police were also said to be notorious of haphazardly arresting innocent wananchi going about their business especially during the evening hours.

The county government promised to improve lighting in the town streets, seal potholes and ensure that there was enough water to serve both the residents and the visitors. They also promised to look into ways to tackle the challenge of traffic jams in order to make it easy for everyone to move about.

Through the sub-county admin, they promised to look into the logistics towards the traders licensing and operations with a view to enhance the business environment during the course of the games and in future.

However, Madam Rose appealed to the traders to observe utmost professionalism and hygiene otherwise the county government would take disciplinary action against any of them who violated any of the sub-county by-laws.

She asked them to take full advantage of the rare opportunity to make business and sell Thika as a destination of choice.



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