Why Sports Kenya has its work cut out

Actually, if all rules of engagement were established, Gor Mahia would be receiving Government money to travel to Dar es Salaam next week for the Cecafa Kagame Cup football club championship.

It is the duty of Sports Kenya to “facilitate the preparation and participation of Kenyan teams in various international events and the hosting of similar events in the country...” That is what the law says; passed by our Parliament and gazetted as the Sports Act 2013. And it is in effect.

What are not in effect and not yet available are structures and tools to make Sports Kenya in full flight.

There is a promise that this will “soon” happen. But another body established by Parliament which should be-up-and-running, working 24 hours of every day of the week is the Rose Wasike-headed office of the Sports Registrar.

This is not Sports Kenya, by the way. The office of the Sports Registrar is within the Public Service. It is appointed- already - by the Public Service Commission.

NOT REGISTERED

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To get a view of what goes on inside Sports Kenya, Rose Wasike has the advice of the Attorney General who sits in the Board of Sports Kenya.

Sports Kenya can only recognise sports organisations recommended to it by Wasike because the law says: “A body shall not operate as a sports organisation unless it is registered under the act.” This applies to a sports club, a county sports organisation or a national sports organisation.

It is possible that Gor Mahia are not registered in Wasike’s office nor are Football Kenya Federation, to which the club is affiliated.

That may seem sloppy, but that is the current behaviour of sports organisations in the country. Despite daily warning, they are still lawless.

Stages in the operation of government are divided by what is generally regarded as necessary “red tape” and sports organisations have no choice other learn to do what is necessary to cut through.

Wasike is the most crucial person in the re-establishment of law and order in the sports organisation in the country. The law is very clear and if she follows it, and works very quickly, can correct a situation that had become anarchic.

She must ignore the organisations that do not seem to realise the country long changed in the way it is administered.

Every citizen has the right to participate in sport governed by a County-based sports organisation.

County-based sports organisation who wish to be affiliated with a national organisation should then head to Wasike’s office, seeking guidance as who is the “legit” and desirable national organisation to collaborate with.

Sports organisation should begin on a clean slate. The preferable method should be “from down, up” [County, to national] rather than the current “Up-down” [national to amorphous “branches” and “provinces”. Provinces which are illegal anyway, the country having done away with them constitutionally].
Sports Kenya has its work cut out, but the organisation has to move with speed because the sporting season, both domestically and internationally, rolls on unabated, waiting for no man, so to speak. Chaotic sports organisation in the country is sadly throwing the sporting train off the rails.

There is huge cry for government to save Kenyan sport. Parliament did a brilliant work to enact Sports Act 2013.

It was the first time that the Ministry of Sports would be devolving operations from the center in contrast with other government ministries, which are efficient because they have many semi-autonomous organisations assisting administration of services. The Sports Act establishes another crucial body, the National Sports Fund.

This will provide financial support for sports persons and sports organisations. It will raise money through a sports lottery and investments. The National Sports Fund already has a chairman, while the Board is yet to be fully constituted.

MOST VISIBLE MAN

Sports Kenya chairman Fred Muteti is the most visible man in the new era of Kenyan sport and people expect a dramatic change from him. To drive sport in a hopeful, exciting direction. Muteti is a political top honcho, national secretary general of Deputy President William Ruto’s United Republican Party (URP), which as a member of the Jubilee Alliance coalition, brought both the DP and President Uhuru Kenyatta to power.

It is this political alliance, which Muteti belongs to that must deliver Kenya’s sport from the current horrible despair. In their manifesto, the coalition promised to take sports to new heights.

They said: “Our collective love of sport and the arts is one of the strongest factors that unite us. In the sporting arena, we are world leaders in middle and long distance running...” This is under threat if one time high standards such as in football, rugby, cricket, boxing, tennis, squash, hockey, basketball, keep falling.

Sportsman and leading city lawyer John Ohaga chairs another independent pillar of Kenyan sport, the Sports Disputes Tribunal. Ohaga’s job is mainly to determine appeals against decisions by national sports organisations, whose rules specifically allow for appeals.

He is also supposed to determine appeals from decisions of the Registrar of Sports. And my, has this not become the fulltime occupation of the Ohaga Tribunal. Surely, Wasike must complete the act of properly registering sports organisations.

, to stem the flooding flow of disputes to Ohaga’s desk. Besides, Wasike well established and with full working facilities at the PSC, has the far better comfort at work than the fledgling 1. Sports Kenya, 2. National Sports Fund, 3. Sports Disputes Tribunal, and 4. the Kenya Academy of Sports.
And by the way, the Kenya Academy of Sports, already much develop and physically established at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, is an exciting destination for Kenyan sport under the Sports Act.
This is a cradle for academic and technical resource to Kenya sport. Its growth and broadening of capacity is the key to unlocking the potential of Kenya sport at the high performance level. The academy is among other things supposed to:
-establish and manage sports training academies; and we should be looking at establishment of sports centres, equivalent of “polytechnics” through all Kenyan counties
-organise, administer and co-ordinate sports courses for technical and sports administration personnel
-promote research and development of talent in sports, in collaboration with institutions of higher learning, national sports organisations and other stakeholders
Although the Kenya Academy of Sports already has a chief executive officer, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Arts Dr Hassan Wario has yet to name a Chairman and appoint a Board but the need for stepped-up operations at the Academy cannot be gainsaid.