Kenya’s Olympic committee in the red

Paul Tergat’s new team at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) may have hit the road running, but their financial books are in the red with bank accounts having been left empty by the previous team.

Nock deputy secretary Francis Mutuku disclosed Wednesday the real state of affairs at Nock will be disclosed after an audit, due to be commissioned in the next one week, is through.

Mutuku said the executive is talking to two top auditing firms to commence the process, which should take at least a month before the report is done and presented at the General Assembly before the end of this year.

Mutuku said they might have inherited a debt of Sh45 million but one of their biggest challenges, that they hope to find a solution to, is the new Nock headquarters building that is currently under construction in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

Mutuku explained that the previous Nock office borrowed a bank loan of Sh800 million for the construction of the headquarters, but work at the site has since stalled.

“We are consulting experts and people who know about properties and we should find the way forward,” Mutuku said.

“We are also in consultation with the federations about the building.”

Mutuku said the General Assembly will be convened immediately the audit report is out adding that more debtors could crop up since the new team has just started its work.

Nock General Assembly on September 29, this year, declined to adopt the 2017 accounts after an audit firm failed to qualify them.

“We want to run sports affairs in a professional manner. We want to come up with a strategic plan that will involve the federations as the key stakeholders, looking at several years to come regardless of who will achieve it,” said Mutuku.

Mutuku said several commissions will be formed to spearhead the strategic plan where some of Kenya’s top minds will be engaged.