Team Kenya Olympic gaffes leave Wario in survival race

When Sports secretary Hassan Wario set foot in the Brazilian capital Rio de Janeiro, he was confident of a memorable outing for Kenya’s Olympics team.

In any case the Kenyan contingent was a highly experienced star-studded one and Wario expected to bask in the glory of its performance.

Instead, Mr Wario is a man under siege barely two weeks into the games and even faces a petition back home to have him sacked from job.

Apart from handling an avalanche of faux pas by Kenyan officials in Rio, Wario will have to face a push by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma to hound him out of office on grounds of incompetence.

But how did the 46-year-old Wario get here?

On Sunday, August 7, news started trickling in that the manager of the Kenyan Olympic athletics team Michael Rotich had been sent home from Rio after an investigation alleged he demanded money to give warnings about doping tests to athletes.

Like a set of dominos, the scandals surrounding Team Kenya began to fall in quick succession.

Mr Wario had reportedly gone ahead to Rio to pave the way for Kenya’s team but the shambolic preparations by the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (Nock) which is coordinated by his ministry made a mockery of the minister’s efforts.

At the time Kenyans were receiving the news of Mr Rotich’s departure, another debacle was unfolding at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Julius Yego, Kenya’s javelin maverick and the country’s hope for a first Olympic field gold medal, found there was no ticket for him to fly to Rio.

“That I don’t have a ticket to #RioOlympics2016 I am lost as to what is going on,” Yego tweeted setting social media ablaze with Wario the prime target.
Nock officials, led by Team Kenya chief executive James Chacha, could not produce Yego’s ticket upon arrival at the airport, prompting other athletes to boycott boarding the plane.

There were also no tickets for World 1,500m silver medallist Elijah Manangoi and two-time world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba who is also Team Kenya chaperone.

Whatever feeble defence Mr Wario and Nock would have offered was eviscerated by the number of escalating goofs that reportedly hit the morale among the athletes.

Social media speculation, taken by many as authentic, had it that the number of administration officers in Rio at the taxpayers’ expense outnumber the athletes and coaches.

The VIP experience of hangers on while athletes and coaches were treated indifferently was stark.

Nock had, for example, arranged for Yego’s coach Joseph Mosonik to join him in Rio on August 17, just a day before the world champion competes, with the coach programmed to leave Rio for Nairobi on August 18 when Yego’s competition was still on.

By Tuesday, August 8, Mr Wario was attempting to dance away from the scandal that was now enveloping Nock and the Sports ministry and issued a gag order on athletes saying they are not allowed to speak to foreign media.

The Cabinet secretary chose to blame “people who have always wanted to see Kenya banned” for the drug exposé saying it was calculated to destabilise the athletes.

“We believe there are people out there who don’t want us to compete in this Olympics. They are trying different things,” he said.
But the following day another fiasco would emerge; this time on how athletes were conned of their gear.

Reports indicate that each of the athletes was supposed to receive eight pairs of long and short-sleeved T-shirts that had been promised by sportswear giant Nike. The athletes reportedly only got one pair.

“Every athlete should have sandals for relaxing after training, sun glasses and many other things. We have talked to Nike and they told us they sent these but we are wondering where the stuff has gone,” team captain Wesley Korir was quoted saying.

Two days later, sprint coach John Anzrah was sent home after he presented himself and even gave a urine sample for Ferguson Rotich.

Underwhelming

Nock was quick to distance itself from Anzrah saying that they did not facilitate his travel to Rio.

The underwhelming organisation by the Sports ministry under Mr Wario is a continuation of the disorganisation witnessed in London four years ago and has fuelled a debate on the morality of Kenyan athletes competing for other countries that treat them better.

Kenyan-born Ruth Jebet won a 3,000 metres steeplechase gold medal for Bahrain and is set to pocket a handsome Sh51 million for her troubles in Rio, a stark contrast from the woes of her Kenyan compatriots.

Mr Kaluma wants President Uhuru Kenyatta to dismiss Mr Wario for “the shame and dishonour to the nation as demonstrated in the current fiasco at the Kenya Olympic camp in Rio de Janeiro.”

The Cabinet secretary has in the past walked away from major scandals such as the Harambee Stars fiasco where State House had to intervene to have the stranded national football team fly to Cape Verde for a World Cup qualifier football match.

His tenure has reached a tipping point and whether he will survive this latest drama is a question that only Parliament and State House can answer.
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