SPARTZ MEDIA

Every politician trashing the hosting of a "foreign" team at the inaugural Raila Odinga Atlanta Stadium match has photos of himself watching those very same teams on their home grounds abroad, all paid for by the taxpayer. It is the old story of rich men telling the poor that money is not everything, when money is everything they have. Their phones are full of match photos, stadium selfies and videos from those trips. Their walls carry framed player-version jerseys with autographs. All of it is displayed as proof of achievement, accomplishment and status. Yet when the same experience comes home for you to enjoy, it suddenly becomes a waste. Those who don't want you to enjoy exotic experiences at home are not blind to the value. They have simply already enjoyed it abroad, at your cost. Bayern and Ajax playing on Kenyan soil is not tribal, racial or even political. It is bringing the TV home. It is showing our children that their aspirations are normal and can be lived right here. It is reducing the gods of football to mere mortals, so that a boy in the stands can look at them and know he can be them. We bought cars because we saw men with cars. We played football in the names of Drogba and Frank Lampard. But these critics are not fathers. They are uncles who throw away the children's toys, beat boys for playing, and grab playgrounds for being "useless and nonsensical," only to build apartments on them and raise obese, sickly kids who have never kicked a ball. @WilliamsRuto is a father. He understands the role of play in growth, the role of toys in inspiration, and the role of icons and mentors in showing a child what is possible. Let the uncles keep their autographed jerseys. Our children will get their own selfies, at home. Wajinga waliisha na free education ya Kibaki.