Five pressing issues that new CS Echesa must deal with

RASHID ECHESA PS Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts Kirimi Kaberia (left) the out-going Dr Hassan Wario (right) and the incoming Rashid Echesa Mohamed upon assuming office as the new CS of Sport and Heritage on Tuesday, Feb 20, 2018. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

DOPING:  General Prosecution of drug cheats are among the things that have affected local sports

Sports ministry has had a share of intrigues that new man at the helm must deal with.

Newly-appointed Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Heritage, Rashid Mohammed Echesa, took office this week with the promise of dismantling cartels that have crippled sports development.

Echesa who succeeded Dr Hassan Wario refused to field questions from reporters, promising to do so at a later date when he familiarises himself with the murky waters at the Ministry headquarters at Kencom House, Nairobi.

The former pugilist turned political operative and now a minister is however, wading into a docket that has more than its fair share of intrigues that have humbled even the mighty who went in breathing fire, including his predecessor who after a tough-talking start, exited at a whimper.

Here, are the five most pressing things he needs to act on to establish some credibility and order in the often maligned ministry accused of choking the emergence of Kenya as a global sporting power.

Rita Jeptoo ran the last few miles unopposed, seen here around the 23.5 mile mark, on her way to finishing in first place in the women's race of the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2014. (Photo by Essdras M Suarez/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Uncover the Rio 2016 fiasco

While Wario can point out to achievements he made during his tenure, among them enactment of the Sports Act 2013 and Anti-Doping Act 2016 laws as well as establishment of the Sports Disputes Tribunal and Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, the pungent stench of the Rio 2016 scandal continues to waft from Kencom House.

To the uninitiated, the fiasco that unfolded in August 2016 saw millions of shillings meant for Team Kenya athletes as well as kit from American giants Nike misappropriated. The case is, however, still in court.

A probe ordered by Wario laid the finger of blame at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya's doorstep and ministry bureaucrats. Four senior officials of the Olympics body were hauled before court and many will be hoping the new CS will act on those he thinks were guilty in his ministry.

If Echesa is keen, slaying the dragon of the Rio scandal ahead of Tokyo 2020 will be the ideal way to start because the 'cartels' he alluded to at the ministry were the main co-architects of the shameful scandal.

Lest we forget, another investigation ordered by retired President Mwai Kibaki, following another scandal at London 2012 Olympics is rusting in some drawer. If not careful, Echesa will be snared in the next scam with Tokyo less than two years away by the same 'cartels' he has turned his guns on. 

 

Prosecution of drug cheats

While most Kenyans associate doping with the biggest sporting export from the country- athletics- due to the high profile scandal that rocked the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), doping in local sport continues to thrive unabated.

A Government task force led by Prof Moni Wekesa published a report in October 2014 that claimed illegal substance abuse had penetrated most sporting disciplines in Kenya but it was the spike in doping cases in athletics that placed Kenya on the global spotlight, with the country's track and field team threatened with expulsion from the 2016 Olympics at the height of it all.

The renovation construction has began at Nyayo National Stadium in readines for the CHAN tournament to be held in Kenya next year where Nyayo National Stadium will be one of the hosting fields. Aug 27, 2017. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The threat from the IOC and IAAF forced the Government to act and President Uhuru Kenyatta personally intervened to ensure the Anti-Doping Act was passed into the law that made doping a criminal offence. ADAK was established and given the force of the law in December 2016.

Since then, the local anti-doping body, despite Kenya being declared complaint to the World Anti-Doping Agency Code in September last year, has banned 10 runners, including women Olympic marathon champion, Jemimah Sumgong, but to date, no athlete, coach, agent, supplier or any other individual complicit in substance abuse has been successfully prosecuted.

In the run up to Rio, Italians Federico Rosa (agent) and Claudio Berardelli (coach) besides five local medics were brought to court charged with doping shamed female marathon star, Rita Jeptoo and another runner but the cases collapsed due to lack of evidence.

Outside athletics, it is common knowledge recreational drug use is common among footballers, rugby players and boxers among others with almost non-existence doping control in those sports perpetuating the vice.

Echesa has his hands full in making Kenyan sport clean.

 

Infrastructural development

One of the biggest sticks used to clobber the Jubilee Administration in the sporting fraternity is the 2013 campaign manifesto pledge to put up five new stadiums in as many years.

That has since been 'downgraded' to renovation works in existing facilities and the partnership between national and county administrations to erect or upgrade their stadiums with Sh250m set aside to each of the 47 devolved units towards this purpose.

Last September, the country was stripped of the rights to host the 2018 Africa Home Nations Championships by the Confederation of African Football with poor infrastructure cited as the main reason alongside the political uncertainty prevailing in the nation at the time owing to disputed elections.

Echesa as the President's eye in sport, should rank the development of sporting facilities to satisfy the demands of the modern sporting industry as top priority.

In the 1980s, the country was littered with many social halls that sparked the growth of many disciplines but in the latter day environment, sporting activity is combined with entertainment to create a package that is commercially viable.

For example, football is not sold in Europe/America/Asia as a mere game but 'match day' experience where every member of the family has something to enjoy and most sporting venues in Kenya are ill-equipped to offer such.

Deputy President, William Ruto, said nine facilities including Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi would be ready for use in April. The clock is ticking for Echesa to ensure such pledges do not end up being empty and cheap talk.

 

Sports funding

Successive sports ministers have grappled and failed to address the thorny issue of sporting organisations, teams and individuals lacking finances to fund their programmes.

Echesa risks being added to the extended list of ministers who have to contend with the begging bowls from federations, teams and individual athletes unless he can cure the chronic cash-crunch that has bedevilled Kenyan sport for decades.

Last week, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards had to organise impromptu fund raisers to meet the costs of their trips to Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius for their second leg CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup preliminary round ties against Leones Vegetarianos and FOSA Juniors.

Echesa will familiarise himself with all sort and manner of officials and sports personalities camping outside his office, sometimes organising protests or running to the media threatening their trips to international events are at risk unless the Government intervenes.

The sporting fraternity waits in bated breath to see what Echesa will do to attract more State and corporate monies to one of the poorest-funded government dockets. 

 

Federation wrangles

Before Echesa had time to sample the trappings of his new office, news filtered through the chairperson of the board of Cricket Kenya, Jackie Janmohammed had quit her position following the poor performance of the team at the Division Two Championships in Namibia.

Her exit was culmination of months of in-fighting in the board and having quit in July last year before being prevailed to come, Janmohammed could not take it anymore and threw in the towel.

Her resignation plunged a sport that has fallen from grace from the heady days of the 2003 ICC World Cup semi-finals to demotion to the fourth-tier Division Three into deeper crisis.

The Kenya Netball Federation is locked in a bitter supremacy battle pitting incumbent officials and their counterparts from nine branches calling for the heads of the administration with election set for March 24 where embattled Secretary General, Lilian Anupi, is keen on defending her seat amid stiff opposition.

All is not well at the Kenya Swimming Federation whose former boss, Ben Ekumbo, was forced out by the Rio 2016 fiasco with sitting officials being pressured to quit by parents of swimmers over selection issues for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Simmering under the surface is the long-standing pitch battles between the FKF and the Kenyan Premier League with the governing body and top-flight management firm strained relationship delaying efforts to bring title and broadcast sponsors on board to sustain the competition.

Those are just a few examples of a protracted in-fighting in Kenyan sport that was meant to be stemmed by the enactment of the Sports Act 2013 that will give Echesa sleepless nights unless he clamps down firmly on feuding federations at the earliest opportunity.