How scandals clouded Wario's success as Sports CS

It was a long and tumultuous tenure that Cabinet Secretary for Sports Hassan Wario will live to remember.

Wario's five-year tenure ended on Friday after President Uhuru Kenyatta named little-known Rashid Achesa Mohammed as the new Sports and Heritage CS with Karimi Kaberia retaining his position as the Sports Principal Secretary.

Wario's reign saw the country witnessed great success in the world of sports but his tenure was also clouded and soiled with a series of shortcomings and scandals alike.

Wario believes one of his major achievements was the enactment of the 2013 Sports Act into law, which saw the formation of Sports Dispute Tribunal, Sports Fund and Registrars position and the formation of Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak).

Rio Olympic Games scandal and failure by Kenya to host the African Nations Championships currently going on in Morocco are some of failures that will always cloud his tenure.

DISPUTES TRIBUNAL

Even though some federations and clubs have resorted to go to court to seek legal redress, the Sports Dispute Tribunal has played a great role in solving disputes.

The Sports Act also came up with term limits for officials seeking top positions in federations. The office of the Registrar was also empowered to streamline the activities of sports federations.

It’s during Wario’s time that Football Federation of Kenya (FKF), Athletics Kenya (AK) and National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Noc-K) received a new lease of life with new officials replacing former long-serving leaders.

Fresh and peaceful elections were held with Nick Mwendwa being ushered into office as the new FKF president in 2015, replacing long serving Sam Nyamweya.

Perhaps Harambee Stars winning the Cecafa Senior Challenge in December 2013 and 2017 and Harambee Starlets qualifying for the Africa Women's Cup of Nations was Wario’s main highlight in football.

TUWEI REPLACES KIP

Lieutenant General rtd Jack Tuwei took over the mantle at AK, replacing the long serving Isaiah Kiplagat in December 2015, a process that was preceded by a stage-in at Riadha House. Kiplagat passed on August 24, 2016 after a long battle with cancer.

Wario and the ministry was directly involved in the battle to have changes at Nock where a new constitution was put in place with the on-and-off elections finally held with Paul Tergat taking over the presidency, replacing the long serving Kipchoge Keino.

RIO SCANDAL

Tergat’s election brought some sigh of relief with many hoping that integrity will be brought back at Nock especially after the Rio Olympics scandal.

Wario told Nation Sport that he "will always be proud of the successes of the World Under-18 Championships in Athletics in 2017", having presented a strong and successful bid in Monaco in 2014. Kenya recorded a record-breaking attendance on the final day of the competition. The event also saw Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani get a facelift with new competition and warm up tracks.

Kenyatta University also had their hostels upgraded and renovated to three-star hotel standards with the institution also getting a new tartan track.

It’s also during Wario’s tenure that Kenya emerged the overall winners for the first time during the 2015 World Championships in Athletics held in Beijing.

The country topped the medals standings with 16 medals, seven gold, six silver and three bronze with Julius Yego (javelin) and Nicholas Bett (400m hurdles) giving the country its maiden victories in the events.

SHUJAA'S SUCCESS

Kenya Shujaa also got to claim its first victory in the World Rugby Sevens Series with victory at Singapore Sevens during the 2015-2015 Series, beating Fiji 31-7 in the final. Wario’s tenure on a good note in June 2013 started when Shujaa reached the World Cup semi-final for the second time.

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games was marked with great success with the country posting its best ever show, collecting 13 medals, six gold, six silver and one bronze, surpassing the 2008 Beijing Summer Games where Kenya collected 16 medals - six gold, four silver and six bronze.

However, it's the Rio Olympic Games that threatened to end Wario’s reign. The mismanagement of funds both at the ministry and Nock the CS move to institute an inquiry whose findings were presented to President Kenyatta. No one has been brought to book yet.

Nock officials including Rio Olympics Chef de Mission Stephen Soi, Nock secretary general Francis Paul and overall team manager Pius Ochieng and James Chacha were arrested over the Rio Olympics scandal.

In his 2017 New Year’s speech, President Uhuru promised to crack the whip over the Rio scandal. That saw the then Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko recommend the investigation and prosecution of key sports ministry officials led by Wario but nothing has happened.

Kenya’s failure to host the 2017 African Nations Championship saw stakeholders blame the outgoing CS with many accusing him of being lacklustre in his approach to weighty sports issues.

Confederation of Africa Football (Caf) said they took away the hosting rights for the tournament "due to the political situation in the country" but preparations for the biannual tournament were way behind schedule with facilities including stadiums barely half complete.