Painful silence: Remembering the forgotten victims of the Nyayo National Stadium tragedy

On the evening of Saturday, October 23, 2011, a tragic stampede at Nyayo Stadium claimed seven lives during a Gor Mahia vs AFC Leopards match marking one of Kenyan football's darkest moments.

Today marks 13 years since the darkest night in Kenyan football when a celebration of the beautiful game turned into an unimaginable nightmare at Nyayo National Stadium.

On the evening of October 23, 2011, seven football fans lost their lives during one of the country’s most anticipated fixtures, the Mashemeji Derby, between bitter rivals Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards.

What was meant to be a thrilling match showcasing the best of Kenyan football instead left a trail of devastation that haunts the nation to this day.

In the midst of a rain-soaked night, as fans gathered in their thousands to watch two of Kenya’s most iconic clubs face off, no one could have imagined the tragic events that were about to unfold.

The thrill of the derby quickly turned into panic and chaos as hundreds of fans surged towards Gate 2, desperate to enter the stadium after the match had already begun.

The pressure from the growing crowd, the locked gates, and the torrential downpour created a perfect storm of conditions that led to a catastrophic stampede.

By the end of that fateful evening, seven fans were dead and 20 others were left seriously injured.

Among the fallen were young men and women whose only crime was their love for football. David Ochieng Oundo, 34, Victor Juma Okoth, 27, Winnie Karimi Kinyua, 21, Franklin Onimu Kiribwa, 28, and Stephen Ochieng Onyango, 24, all lost their lives at Gate 2 of Nyayo Stadium, their dreams and futures tragically cut short.

Each had come that day not expecting anything more than 90 minutes of football, yet they never made it inside to see a ball kicked.

The scene outside Nyayo Stadium that night was one of panic and desperation. Fans, many of them already soaked by the heavy rain, had grown impatient as they stood in long queues waiting to gain entry.

Tempers flared, and soon, in an attempt to force their way in, a section of the crowd brought down one of the gates.

What followed was a terrifying surge, with fans pushing and shoving their way forward, unaware that they were crushing the very people standing next to them.

"People are being crushed to death," one spectator screamed as they rushed onto the pitch to warn the referee as per BBC.

The horrifying realization of what was happening spread quickly through the stadium as ambulances arrived within minutes, ferrying away the dead and injured. Despite the chaos and loss of life, the match was halted for only 10 minutes before it resumed, with Gor Mahia eventually securing a 1-0 victory.

The aftermath of the tragedy left the country in shock. Jack Oguda, who was the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) CEO at the time, expressed his disbelief at how such a tragedy could occur in a stadium that wasn’t even filled to capacity.

"A gate was broken into by fans forcing their way into the stadium," Oguda recalled.

"Access was limited, and they got agitated, and that’s why they forced their way in. We'll start an inquiry into the matter to establish why fans could not access the stadium."

Despite these promises, the victims’ families are still waiting for justice.

Fourteen years later, not much has changed in terms of accountability or ensuring such a disaster never happens again.

The families of the deceased were given Ksh 30,000 each as compensation to help with funeral arrangements – a sum that felt like an insult to the magnitude of their loss.

After a joint requiem mass at Nyayo Stadium, the victims were buried, and with them, any hope of justice seemed to fade.

For the families of David, Victor, Winnie, Franklin, and Stephen, the pain remains raw.

Franklin, just days away from his 28th birthday, had been looking forward to the match with immense excitement. Hours before his death, he posted on Facebook: "Si tukutane stadi…… naona mtu akiumizwa na INGWE vinoma" (Let us meet at the stadium. I foresee AFC Leopards beating someone thoroughly).

Little did he know that those would be his last words to his friends and family. His ticket, found untouched in his pocket after the tragedy, remains a chilling reminder of the life that was lost too soon.

Stephen Ochieng Onyango, 24, had been eagerly awaiting his graduation from Maseno University in November.

He had a bright future ahead of him, a future that was cruelly stolen on that tragic night. Victor, Winnie, David—all of them were young, full of hope, and had so much more to give to the world.

But that rainy evening, the crushing force of hundreds of fans trying to push their way into the stadium took their lives.

As the years have passed, the memory of the Nyayo Stadium disaster has begun to fade from the national consciousness.

Unlike other tragedies around the world, such as the Hillsborough disaster in England, which is commemorated annually with reverence and remembrance, the victims of the Nyayo Stadium disaster have been largely forgotten.

There is no memorial to honor them, no annual ceremony to remember their names, and no justice for their families.

"Safety must be paramount," said Zedekiah Otieno, Gor Mahia’s coach at the time of the tragedy.

He called for better stadium management to prevent future disasters. But his words, much like the cries for justice from the victims' families, have gone unheard.

In the years since the disaster, the ban on night matches in the Kenyan Premier League remains in place, a direct result of the chaos and confusion that contributed to the tragedy.

But beyond this measure, little has been done to ensure that such a disaster will never happen again.

Football stadiums across the continent continue to suffer from inadequate security, poor crowd control, and the dangerous passion that can sometimes turn deadly when safety is not prioritized.

The Nyayo Stadium disaster was not an isolated event in African football. Similar tragedies have occurred in various countries, with fans losing their lives in stampedes, riots, and clashes with security forces ill-prepared to handle large crowds.

The underlying issues—overcrowding, insufficient safety protocols, and poorly trained security—remain unresolved, and the consequences can be fatal.

Fourteen years later, the victims of Nyayo Stadium deserve more than silence.

They deserve to be remembered, not just as a footnote in Kenyan football history, but as a reminder that the love of the game should never come at the cost of human life.

We need a permanent memorial at Nyayo Stadium, where fans can lay wreaths every year on October 23 to honor the lives lost.

We need to teach future generations about the importance of safety in sports and the dangers of letting our passion for the game overshadow our responsibility to protect one another.

As we remember David, Victor, Winnie, Franklin, Stephen, and all those who lost their lives on that dark night, let us also reflect on the changes that must be made to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Their deaths were not inevitable; they were the result of a failure to safeguard the fans who make football what it is.

Fourteen years later, we owe it to them—and to every football fan who steps into a stadium—to ensure that their deaths were not in vain.