Democracy Kenya

Grant Wahl, a highly regarded soccer journalist who wrote extensively on the game, died Friday in Qatar, where he was covering the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands. Wahl’s agent, Tim Scanlan, confirmed the death in a phone interview on Friday night. Scanlan said that Wahl had been in the press box in the closing minutes of the match when he went into acute distress. He is believed to have died, Scanlan said, at a hospital in Qatar or while he was being taken to one, after feeling unwell as the tournament proceeded. “He wasn’t sleeping well, and I asked him if he tried melatonin or anything like,” Scanlan said. “He said, ‘I just need to like relax for a bit.’” According to two New York Times journalists who were present, medical personnel performed chest compressions and other treatment for about 20 minutes before Wahl was taken out of Lusail Iconic Stadium. Wahl was in the midst of his eighth men’s World Cup, with an aggressive schedule of ...

By Kenn Okaka The ‘I am Nairobi festival’, mooted by governor Johnson Sakaja, is a welcome idea that we should all strive to ensure is a success. The festival, which is the first of its kind, and the governor's brainchild, will celebrate and appreciate Nairobi’s diverse food, culture, and art. Being a journalist with a bias for sports and especially football, and as a football official, I urge Governor Sakaja to make night football one of the major events of the festival. Football is the most popular sport in the country and is thus able to attract a large number of enthusiasts, fans, corporate partners, and star players. Speaking at a meeting with officials from the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sakaja said the inaugural edition of the festival would take place after the Jamhuri day celebrations in December. It would offer an opportunity to celebrate the globally popularised matatu culture, as Kenyan mini-buses are known for. In this rega...