A Kenyan proverb says that the stom­ach does not for­get who fed it. This week, our Haram­bee Stars remind­ed us that when lead­er­ship invests in its peo­ple, they respond with ener­gy beyond what any­one expect­ed. From the dusty pitch­es where they first kicked a ball to the glob­al spot­light of the African Nations Cham­pi­onship, they car­ried our hopes with pride and deter­mi­na­tion. And when Pres­i­dent William Ruto promised them mil­lions in prizes and even two-bed­room hous­es, they played like men whose hearts were pump­ing not only blood but also des­tiny. If death itself had vis­it­ed the pitch, it would have had to sit on the bench until the final whistle.

The CHAN 2024 tour­na­ment has been a break­through. For the first time in 38 years, Kenya co-host­ed a major con­ti­nen­tal cham­pi­onship with Ugan­da and Tan­za­nia. It was a mile­stone in logis­tics, infra­struc­ture, and, most impor­tant­ly, in nation­al morale. Some Kenyans joked that Haram­bee Stars had already suc­ceed­ed just by top­ping a group that includ­ed Moroc­co and DR Con­go. Indeed, this was the so-called “group of death.” Yet, against all odds, our team played with a uni­ty that silenced crit­ics and renewed hope in Kenyan football.

Inspi­ra­tion car­ried them far, but at the semi-final stage, they faced the harsh truth that inspi­ra­tion alone does not win cham­pi­onships. Tech­ni­cal mas­tery, infra­struc­ture, and con­sis­tent invest­ment dis­tin­guish us from the continent’s best. This isn’t fail­ure, but a reflec­tion held up to us. Pub­lic sup­port and lead­er­ship rewards can ignite the fire, but long-term sys­tems of train­ing, coach­ing, and man­age­ment sus­tain it.

I have served in sports admin­is­tra­tion long enough to see this cycle repeat. As Trea­sur­er and lat­er Vice Chair­man of AFC Leop­ards, as Chair­man of Crick­et Kenya, as a mem­ber of the Nation­al Sports Coun­cil, as leader of the Kenya Women’s Nation­al Team tour to the US, and as CEO of the 2007 IAAF World Cross Coun­try Cham­pi­onships in Mom­basa, I learned that sports and life fol­low the same rules. If you cut cor­ners, betray integri­ty, or fight among your­selves instead of work­ing togeth­er, the results will reveal you. But if you pro­mote dis­ci­pline, uni­ty, and invest­ment, the out­come will sur­prise even the most ambi­tious dreamer.

The les­son of CHAN is there­fore three­fold. First, sports demand integri­ty beyond the field. Many of our past fail­ures in foot­ball and crick­et result­ed not from lack of tal­ent but from cor­rup­tion and mis­man­age­ment. When Nicholas Musonye and his team led this tour­na­ment, they demon­strat­ed what clean, deci­sive lead­er­ship can accom­plish. Sec­ond, sports gen­er­ate liveli­hoods and eco­nom­ic growth. Every match filled hotels, boda bodas, eater­ies, and dig­i­tal plat­forms. An unfor­get­table sta­tis­tic is that more than Sh145 mil­lion in tick­et sales was col­lect­ed before the final whis­tle, prov­ing that sports are not just enter­tain­ment but a thriv­ing econ­o­my. Third, sports teach resilience. Our boys lost in the semi-final, but they fell for­ward, car­ry­ing the pride of a nation that had sup­port­ed them with unmatched passion.

Pres­i­dent Ruto remind­ed us that Kenya now sets its sights on AFCON 2027. That vision demands more than prize mon­ey. It calls for invest­ment in struc­tured acad­e­mies, trans­par­ent gov­er­nance, cor­po­rate part­ner­ships, and facil­i­ties that will last long after the cam­eras are gone. In my Green Book, I argue that sports, when man­aged with integri­ty, become both a uni­fi­er and a teacher. They remind us that great­ness is nev­er an acci­dent. It is the result of sac­ri­fice, resilience, and self-belief.

Just as Haram­bee Stars exceed­ed expec­ta­tions and as the new African cham­pi­ons lift­ed the tro­phy last night in Kasarani, the les­son remains the same: when ath­letes feel their nation’s sup­port, they rise beyond imag­i­na­tion. Sim­i­lar­ly, every Kenyan can thrive if lead­er­ship in every sec­tor lis­tens, invests, and inspires. Let us reward integri­ty, build sys­tems, and always remem­ber that pas­sion is pow­er­ful, but prepa­ra­tion is supreme. Think green, act green!