Letter exposes money queries at Nock long before Olympics

The storm over accountability at the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (Nock) started months before the Rio Olympics, documents seen by the Sunday Nation indicate.

This comes at the end of a week in which the embattled officials, led by legendary athlete Kipchoge Keino, once again appeared before a parliamentary committee to account for their spending.

Even before the games, questions were already being raised over the alleged misuse of funds meant for Team Kenya at the Olympics.

Mr Ndung’u Gathenji, Chairman of the Nock Marketing and Fundraising Commission, expressed his exasperation way back in June when money was withdrawn without his team's authority.

In a June 8 letter to Nock Secretary-General FK Paul, he wrote: “This matter (request for funds) can be discussed at our meeting tomorrow. However, I must express my distress that money raised by the commission is being used without the commission’s knowledge or approval, and on issues that the commission would normally fund.”

Mr Gathenji added: “You need to be aware that there is a law against obtaining money by false pretense, and using team sponsorship donations to pay for Nock’s construction costs, for example, would fall in that category.”

The fundraising commission was apparently unhappy that officials had reported that donations from a technology company towards the Rio Games was sent directly to a Nock account used to fund a construction project in Nairobi’s Upper Hill. 

On Saturday, Mr Gathenji declined to discuss the matter, only telling the Sunday Nation to wait for a report the commission is compiling on the Rio games.

“I need to see the letter you are referring to but all the letters I wrote, I copied them to all Commission members so it is not exclusive to me. I am away in the US but, as you know, we are compiling a report on the Olympic games and you better wait for that report to know what transpired,” he said.

LITTLE AUTHORITY
But Nock Treasurer Fridah Shiroya dismissed the allegations, saying there was no way the donation from the technology company could be used for the building.

“We received Sh25 million and though I cannot give you a breakdown of what we used it for unless I am in the office. I am absolutely sure we did not use it for the building,” Ms Shiroya said, adding that she could not access the office since Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario disbanded Nock.

According to revelations from the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Mr Keino was accused of abdicating his duties to the team’s Chef de Mission Stephen Soi.

From the committee’s sessions, Mr Keino was painted as a man who headed an organisation he had little or no control of.

“Officials at Nock only use Kip (Keino) when they want doors to open for them. Whether it is locally or at the international stage, Kip’s name is conveniently used to bring goodies to Nock,” said the official, who spoke in confidence.

A source familiar with details of the marketing and fundraising commission also said some Nock officials would directly reach out to potential donors and receive funds without the commission’s knowledge.

“The marketing and fundraising commission would negotiate with prospective sponsors only for word to leak that some officials from Nock had gone there for the same thing, demanding that payment be made to them,” said our source, who spoke in confidence.

This would cause embarrassing moments when the Nock officials sometimes failed to declare they had received donations.