Eldoret city forced to pull down 'embarrassing' statues amid public backlash

Just hours before Thursday’s elevation of Eldoret to Kenya’s fifth city, statues celebrating the town’s athletic prowess became the centre of a heated debate.

Social media platforms buzzed with sharp criticism as photos of these athlete statues, prominently placed at key intersections, ignited a storm.

The monuments were unveiled to give Eldoret a true status as City of Champions, but the planned showcase failed after it ran into controversy with keyboard warriors claiming they were embarrassing a town that hosted world beaters in athletics.

Even after the effigies were removed by Uasin Gishu County through enforcement officers, social media users continued to turn the heat on organizers of the national event to award Eldoret city status.

Critics claimed the effigies were scary and were likely to send away visitors. Others questioned the tendering process for the design of the statues and how much money Uasin Gishu County spent on the beautification exercise.

A section of sportsmen and women also expressed displeasure with the quality of the statues, saying athletes deserved better monuments after raising the city’s profile high in local and international championships.

“Whoever was contracted to handle branding, imaging and communication for the upcoming Eldoret City must refund taxpayers' money,” Kevin Kenneth Okwara said on Facebook.

Eldoret trended for several hours on X on Wednesday night as Kenyans, both locally and abroad reacted to the statues.

Some social media users said the effigies were a sharp contrast to the beauty of Kenyan athletics stars such as three-time 1500m Olympic Champion Faith Kipyegon and two-time Olympic victor Beatrice Chebet.

“Uasin Gishu County government had only one job, but guess what? Disappointments,” an active social media user said on X.

But another X user defended Eldoret’s statues: “Taking a few biased pictures of my beautiful city of Eldoret to attract attention is absurd. Eldoret has the best hospitals, hotels, roads, infrastructure and ambience. Eldorians are happy to become the fifth city.”

However, several other monuments showcasing the city’s economic pillars were praised. For instance, two gourds erected along Ronald Ngala Street at the Juma Hajji roundabout were applauded as attractive and symbolized Eldoret’s love for traditional sour milk – mursik. Traditionally, the dominant community in the cosmopolitan Eldoret city has for decades used milk gourds to serve mursik to athletics champions at the Eldoret International Airport.

A monument of maize cob and wheat stood conspicuously along Kenyatta Street. The maize cob had earlier on Wednesday been painted brown but was later in the evening painted white and green. A water jet at Nandi road also appeared to attract Eldoret residents.

The new monuments and beautification were established in areas where signages destroyed by Gen Z protesters in June stood.

President William Ruto told residents of the town not to destroy the town again during protests. “Promise me that you will guard the town that is now a city and that you will never destroy your town again,” he said.