Lack of preps leaves World Youth event on brink of failure

I am not sure we are still keen on hosting the 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships here in Nairobi.

Everything and everybody has gone quiet even as the clock ticks fast towards the date for the prestigious youth bonanza.

The hullabaloo that greeted the bidding process has since died and the programme we had earlier drafted is gathering dust at the Ministry of Sports.

Initially I had talked about the pace being slow but at the moment, everything has now come to a halt.

I am a worried man because choices have consequences.

What I mean is that we chose to host the event voluntarily and we should know that there will always be consequences if we don’t fulfil our promise.

Remember, no one will take us seriously in future if we do not live up to our word of seeing the event through.

This has happened before when we failed to host the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations (football), and 20 years down the line, we have never been considered for another did.

If we are really serious about hosting the event next year, we should now be busy putting everything into place.

There is a lot to tackle in as far as facilities, accommodation and security are concerned yet the pace seems to be betraying us.

HOW PREPARED ARE WE?

Next year will be an election year and it is very likely that the event will coincide with the last minute campaign; so just how are we prepared?

The last time I checked, the event was to be held at Nyayo Stadium, but a quick survey has revealed that Nyayo at the moment can’t pass the test of even hosting a regional athletics show.

We have been busy organising forums to talk about building other stadiums while forgetting that Nyayo Stadium exists and needs a face-lift.

Nyayo Stadium has no warm up track and we need to ensure the facility is in place before next year.

So what is the way forward Bwana Waziri?

PHYSICAL SECRETARIAT

A country that is serious at hosting an event of this magnitude, should stop operating from brief cases and put up a physical secretariat.

Nothing much can be done without a physical secretariat in place and the sooner we set up one, the better for all of us.

Besides, we haven’t seen much in terms of the various committees that were appointed. Somebody must be sleeping on the job.

I am sure if it was not for recent distraction at the IAAF, the world officials concerned would be here demanding to see the infrastructure, the hotels and our technical preparedness.

The only thing we have done is to trot the globe purporting to gather knowledge on how events of such calibre are organised.

We really love trips, don’t we? Let us think about this lest we dent our credibility.

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