When President Ruto launched the Sh1 billion Gusii Stadium upgrade in April, the promise was clear: a modern 14,000-seater ready in roughly nine to twelve months. Six months later, the old stands are gone, designs are approved, and the project has only just entered the structural construction phase, with completion now pushed to May 2027. Progress exists, but it feels painfully slow  and funding challenges have played a part in the delays that have dogged this facility for years.

At Gusii Stadium, the club had turned matchdays into a reliable revenue stream. Home gates regularly brought in solid figures. Ordinary league games often pulled between KSh 600,000 and KSh 1.2 million. Bigger fixtures climbed higher  over KSh 1.8 million against sides like Murang’a Seal, and a club-record KSh 3.15 million when Gor Mahia came to town in January 2026. Those numbers were not accidents. They came from a passionate local base that could walk or take a short matatu to the stadium, paint it red and white, and fill the stands.

With Gusii closed, Shabana have been forced to base their “home” matches at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru and William Ole Ntimama Stadium in Narok. The difference is immediate. Kisii fans now face long, expensive journeys. Attendance drops. Gate collections inevitably shrink. What used to be a home fortress has become neutral or near-away grounds in practice. The atmosphere is thinner, the wallet is lighter, and the club loses the consistent matchday income that helped sustain operations.

Then there are the extra costs no one talks about enough. Moving the entire squad, technical staff, and equipment between training bases and temporary home venues adds fuel, accommodation, and logistics bills every week. Away matches already require travel; now even “home” fixtures demand the same. The club received a welcome Sh20 million from the President and a new team bus to cushion the relocation, and those interventions matter. But they are one-off support against ongoing monthly expenses and reduced revenue. They do not fully replace the steady gate money Gusii used to deliver or erase the extra operational strain.

This is the real cost of slow progress, compounded by the funding hurdles that have repeatedly slowed work on the stadium over the years. Every extra month the site remains a construction zone is another month of thinner crowds, higher travel bills, and lost commercial momentum for Shabana. Local businesses that thrived on matchdays in Kisii also feel the absence.

A full rebuild takes time  no one disputes that. But the gap between the April fanfare and the current pace, shaped in part by funding realities, has real consequences for a club that was finally finding its financial footing at home. Fans who once filled Gusii every other week are now asked to travel farther for less atmosphere and less of a true home advantage.

The new stadium will eventually arrive, and it will be better. Until then, Shabana are paying the price of the wait in both reduced revenue and rising costs. The longer the structural works crawl, the heavier that price becomes.