Leaders and residents near Mwariama Stadium in Tigania East have urged the government to bar the public from the facility saying it has become a meeting point for teenagers who engage in sex and alcohol. This has been attributed to the closing of schools due to the coronavirus epidemic.
Various leaders claimed that groups of teenagers are congregating in and around the stadium in wee hours of the day especially during weekends and public holidays.
But Tigania East Sub County Police Commander Peter Gitau said his officers had visited the scene and found no evidence to back such claims.
“We are taking charge of any place in the entire sub county where people might gather against government directives,” said Gitau.
The stadium, named after Mau Mau liberation hero Field Marshal Mwariama is nestled besides St Angela Ngithuru Girls High School, less than a kilometre from the local Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) office.
“The place resembles an army recruitment ground on weekends and public holidays,” one resident told the Standard.
The Meru Kenya Secondary Schools Headteacher Association (Kessha) chairman Kairi Ituuru who first raised the matter said he was worried about the immoral risky behavior congregants engaged in at the stadium due to the secure perimeter wall for those seeking an hideout.
“Indiscipline boys and girls at home due to the government directive closing all learning institutions are finding pleasure socialising here during the wrong hours,” said Ituuru.
The head teacher doubted the youths were even observing social distancing and claimed a building set up as a youth project by the Tigania East Constituency Development Fund within the stadium was serving as a brothel for many.
“As teachers, we call upon all residents to also quarantine their young boys and girls henceforth to protect them from possible harm in the stadium,” said the Kessha chairman.
Charles Kiruru said the county government which owned the facility should deploy guards on a 24-hour basis.