We must prioritise development of sports, tame doping menace

Away from the World Athletics Championships in Beijing and the FIVB Women’s World Cup in Japan, the biggest story involving Kenya this week should have been the visit of the FIA President Jean Todt to Nairobi where he met President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House.

However for reasons best known to the Kenya Motorsports Federation (KMSF), no information was forthcoming about his one day visit ahead of his stay in Uganda to witness the Pearl Of Africa Rally this weekend.

This was a major ‘faux pas’ from the Federation, and this comes hot on the heels of the Ian Duncan/East Africa Classic Safari Rally fiasco where the organisers had to fly in officials from England to advise the defending champion on what needed to be changed on his Ford Capri to make it acceptable for the event.

The Kenya Motorsports Federation needs to get its house in order sharpish if it wants to avoid a backlash from increasingly frustrated stakeholders.

From allegations of corruption to one official taking another to court, the dirty linen is starting to be aired in public, and the final straw appears to be the ‘secrecy’ surrounding the world motorsports president’s visit to Kenya.

LOUD SILENCE

Why the silence? No audio or video footage was released from State House when Todt met Uhuru. It took pictures on social media for myself and other journalists to realise that the ‘big man’ was in Kenya!

I have tried to call and send messages to certain members of the federation from last week with regard to Todt’s visit and they did not have the courtesy to reply!

This smacks of selfishness on the part of the KMSF, and it’s about time that local motorsport’s governing body realised that the organisation is not the personal property of certain individuals. Seeing articles critical of the KMSF pop up on social media means that people are not happy.

This is not to say there are not good things happening. I understand that the new timing system should be ready for testing at next week’s KCB Nakuru Rally. This will revolutionise the sport, and brings the local events up to the standards of the South African National Championship along with the World Rally Championship.

Motorsport is also booming. Looking at events from rallying, to motocross, enduros, autocross and Rally Raids – bumper entries and new equipment means that something is being done right. However, all the hard work being done by the organisers will be undone if the governing body doesn’t get its act together.

As our athletes continue to take the world by storm in Beijing, the pressure is on the government to prioritise sports in terms of development and recognition.

Week-in-week-out our sportsmen and women do the country proud on the international stage. Yet our selfish politicians continue to ignore their presence and push on with their own agendas.

Enough is enough. More needs to be done as a matter of urgency and top of the list must be a Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Sport. This needs to be a ministry on its own.

The CS in charge of sport Hassan Wario has been a disappointment, and the country needs someone with a solid background and reputation in the field to take over the reigns.

SPORTS TOURISM

From sports tourism to infrastructure, help is needed. Devolution is working in bits and pieces as counties are realising that sports events can bring in serious revenue, and they have started investing in stadia and other infrastructure. However this will be a slow process without the central government’s help, and now is as good a time as any for UhuRuto to take the lead.

We’ve witnessed once again how sport unites a nation. Tribes are forgotten and politics is put to the backburner as we cheer on the likes of Julius Yego and David Rudisha, who bring the country more positive news than any Kenya Tourist Board campaign or any politicians’ trip to a foreign country.

What a refreshing change in news the World Championships has brought this week! It was lovely to hear about the exploits of Nicholas Bett in the 400 metres hurdles as the top story rather than the usual dribble about corruption or impunity amongst our so-called elite. Let’s give our athletes a huge welcome home next week.

(READ: Nicholas Bett wins Kenya first ever 400m hurdles gold at Worlds)

While Kenya reigns supreme in the medal standings, the cloud of doping threatens to undo all the hard work the legends of the sport have done, spending years working on and off the track to build the good reputation of the country worldwide.

Athletes taking shortcuts to achieve recognition and financial riches is a global issue, but the fact that poor Kenyans are either being duped or deciding individually to join this unfortunate doping queue is a major cause for concern for the government and the public-at-large. As mentioned on my show on Nation FM this week, it’s been alleged that chemists in Eldoret are willing to sell products that are on the list of banned substances for as little as Sh5,000 a time per athlete.

If this is true then there needs to be an investigation to uncover the culprits. This is not only highly unethical and illegal but also hugely unpatriotic.

How low are Kenyans willing to stoop for money? This is on the same level as immigration officers taking bribes to allow aliens into the country, and the public needs to cooperate to weed out these ‘crooks’.

As you read this, Jaspreet Chatthe is competing in the Pearl Of Africa Rally across the border in Uganda, as he continues his quest to win the double of the Africa Rally and Kenya National Rally Championships.

In addition to his undoubted talent behind the wheel, Chatthe has huge financial backing from his family business Kibos Sugar, and this is proving crucial in what is turning out to be an extremely tough schedule.

Next week is the KCB Nakuru Rally, and Chatthe needs just a top six finish to win the title. He’s had a very measured season with some spectacular performances and he’ll definitely be a worthy championship winner.

As for the likes of Baldev Chager and Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo, they’ll need to do some soul searching in the off-season as they look to regain the title. 2016 will be a very interesting season.