Kirinyaga county residents braved the morning rain to access Wang'uru Stadium in Mwea Constituency to witness the first-ever national celebrations held in the agricultural county.
The gates were flung open to the public at around 5:00 am Wednesday as residents queued to have their invitation cards checked by security officers.
There are eight gates that are being used to access the newly built Ksh300-million stadium.
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The construction of Wang'uru Stadium was initiated by the national government following a tour by President Uhuru Kenyatta to the region in February last year.
Residents have been keen to observe that it rains most of the times that the president visits the county.
During last year's visit, it had heavily rained hence the stadium had flooded prompting the president to order its construction.
"The stadium had flooded last year when he(President) visited last year, it has rained again during his today's visit," a resident observed wondering if there would be a message behind the coincident.
The facility has a capacity of over 10,000 people but due to strict adherence to Covid 19 measures on a limited number of members of the public have been allowed into the stadium.
Ministry of Interior principal secretary Dr Karanja Kibicho gad indicates that only 3,000 people would be allowed into the state function.
"Following Covid 19 measures, we are only going to allow 2,000 Kirinyaga residents and 1000 guests from across the nation."
As the guests wait for the arrival of President Uhuru Kenyatta at around 10:30 am, they are high expectations from his speech.
Patrick Kamau, a resident hopes that the head of state will lift the curfew enforced last in the containment of the spread of Covid 19.
"I would request gone to lift the curfew so that we can get back to our normal life. We want a 24-hour economy, he said.
Given the fact that Kirinyaga is an agricultural hub, farmers around here have raised concern over the cost of production.
"The president should address the cost of production since the price of various farm inputs including fertilizer," he noted.
Mwea residents want to be guaranteed over the prices of rice.
They say that they produce high-quality rice but the market has been flooded by cheap as well as low-quality rice.
"The issue of imports should be addressed. The government can also ban the importation of rice to avoid competition in our markets," Mary Wambui, a rice farmer said.
