AK plans farewell party for long-serving boss Isaiah Kiplagat

Athletics Kenya is planning a big send-off for its long-serving president Isaiah Kiplagat before the end of this year.
The association’s acting president, Lieutenant General (rtd) Jackson Tuwei, said a committee has been formed to set the date for the ceremony in which Kiplagat will be feted after serving in the federation for over four decades.

“It goes without saying that Kenya has thrived in athletics during his tenure and we must plan something big in his honour,” said Tuwei. “He will still be part of athletics even after he has offered to retire before his term ends.” At the same time, Tuwei has said that Kenya’s preparations to host the 2017 World Youth Championships have lagged behind owing to the Government’s delay in approving the Sh1.8 billion budget for the event.

However, Tuwei said they will speed up the process should their request for an initial Sh100 million from the government go through before December.

“We presented the budget to the Ministry of Sports months ago and presented the same to the Treasury in Mombasa on Thursday,” said Tuwei, who is the chairman of the event’s Local Organising Committee.

“It (the budget) should go to Parliament for approval next week and we should continue with preparations if it goes through,” explained Tuwei.

Tuwei, who was speaking on Thursday at Riadha House, added: “We can’t start procuring equipment, plan for renovations nor source for volunteers and hotels without the approval of the budget.”

The event has been planned for July 11-16, 2017 at Nyayo Stadium but there have been calls for organisers to move it to Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.