Wario: Elect good leaders to avoid rot in federations
What you need to know:
- Local sports federations, among them Kenya Rugby Union, Football Kenya Federation and Athletics Kenya are experiencing administrative challenges, with FKF locked in battle with Kenyan Premier League over the composition of the 2015 domestic league.
- He was speaking at Kasarani after launching the Kenya Academy of Sports, a partnership between the Government and the National Youth Talent Academy aimed at nurturing sports talent.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario has blamed stakeholders in Kenyan sports industry for the never-ending squabbles dogging local sports federations.
Wario said stakeholders in local federations who vote in leaders with questionable integrity are partly to blame for the rot.
“These federations were created before I was born. We cannot rush into action now that there is a clear problem just to please people. We must also look at the genesis of the problem. The leaders of all the federations are not appointed. They are voted in by stakeholders so before asking the Government to act, we must ask ourselves why we cannot apply wisdom when electing our leaders,” he said.
Local sports federations, among them Kenya Rugby Union, Football Kenya Federation and Athletics Kenya are experiencing administrative challenges, with FKF locked in battle with Kenyan Premier League over the composition of the 2015 domestic league.
“We (Government officials) do not want to look like we are interfering with the affairs of the football institutions but we are monitoring the situation very closely and have given them, along with all other federations, a clear picture of how we would like things to run and those who do not play ball will see fire,” he said.
Wario said he would meet football officials next week to ensure the Kenyan Premier League begins on schedule.
He was speaking at Kasarani after launching the Kenya Academy of Sports, a partnership between the Government and the National Youth Talent Academy aimed at nurturing sports talent.
Wario also said that plans to build a sports academy complex are at an advanced stage, adding that the academy will be launched by April.
“This country cannot move without sports because youth account for a very large percentage of our population, meaning that if we do not find a way of keeping them busy then we risk losing our future generation to crime, drugs and other vices,” he said.
The creation of the sports academy is one of the five organs of the Sports.
