Allowances headache at Kenya camp demoralising

Helen Obiri (left), former 3,000m indoor world champion, trains with teammates mid this month for Commonwealth Games. Kenya. LEFT: Kenyan Caleb Mwangangi, 3,000m indoor gold medallist, warms. [PHOTO/AFP]

It’s been another tough week for local sports fans, with the hefty suspension of Harambee Stars head coach Adel Amrouche and athletes not receiving their kits and allowances hours before the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.

Amrouche’s situation is actually out of Football Kenya Federation’s (FKF) control to be honest. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) suspended the Algerian for a year after spitting at an official in Harambee Stars’ African Cup Of Nations pre-qualifier in the Comoros. The issue is so serious that Caf is taking his case to Fifa to make this a worldwide ban.

As discussed on one of my radio shows on Nation FM this week with SuperSport commentator Herbert Mwachiro, spitting is largely frowned upon in African culture, and the fact the incident happened in a Muslim country made it even more sensitive for Amrouche.

Now Amrouche’s ban could not have come at a worse time. Harambee Stars are 1 nil down from their first leg African Cup of Nations pre-qualifier against Lesotho last weekend, and even though they should win their return leg next weekend, FKF must act swiftly and decisively for the players can be focused on the assignment.

There is no doubt that although Amrouche has man-management problems, he is a brilliant coach with a great football brain. The FKF is standing by their man and realise that it would be difficult to get a coach of his caliber.

SEVERAL OPTIONS

They could get an interim coach for 12 months should the appeal fail. Gor Mahia coach Bobby Williamson is a name being touted, and his experience would be valuable should an agreement be reached.

Tusker coach Francis Kimanze is having a brilliant season and he’s been there before. In 2008 Premier League coaches decided who should become national coach with Nandwa being chosen, although there maybe issues to be sorted out with both Tusker and him.

Current assistant James Nandwa could continue, and technical director Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee can be brought in to help him. Another name floating around is the Simba SC coach in Tanzania Zdravko Logarusic, who just signed a new contract this week, and he would be delighted to be involved with the national setup.

Time is crucial, and both the FKF and Amrouche have to show some remorse to Caf by holding a press conference for the Algerian to publicly apologise, even if the coach feels aggrieved by the standard of officiating at such a high level.

In the Kenya Premier League, round 19 is this weekend with the main match happening tomorrow between bitter rivals AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, Kenya’s version of Real Madrid/Barcelona or Manchester United/Liverpool.

Ingwe are back to winning ways, beating City Stars 2 nil ahead, and this is important for the fans, who can’t understand why their team is struggling when they have such a strong squad at their disposal.

In the meantime, Gor have lost key players but are still cruising in the league.

Leading scorer Dan Sserunkuma is back from trials in Denmark and could play in the match, which would be a huge boost for Bobby Williamson’s side.

Tusker are keeping the pressure on K’Ogalo after their win kept KCB routed to the bottom and left the brewers just three points behind the league leaders.

Ulinzi continued their revival to remain in the top 8 and remain the king of draws, eleven in total.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES SCANDAL

Throughout the last two weeks I have kept in touch with various members of the Commonwealth Games squad, and even though it’s nothing new, I found it shocking that even with hours remaining to Wednesday night’s opening ceremony, some athletes had not received either kitting or allowances or both.

This now goes from shear incompetence on the part of the officials in charge of the delegation to utter disrespect for the men and women who bring so much glory to this country.

Our sportsmen and women have for years been one of the major factors why Kenya is a household name around the globe, and as long as elected officials get away with such gross misconduct, without so much as a slap on the wrist, then you can expect more cases of sports personalities switching citizenship along with other drastic measure like Chris Froome switching to a British racing cycling license.

How the Commonwealth Games allowances supposedly ended up in the bank account of one official instead of going straight to the Kenya High Commission in Britain to then be distributed to those concerned is anybody’s guess.

Failing miserably

It is another sad case of officials failing miserably and embarrassing the country at such a high profile event, and this time we as Kenyans demand answers.

There must be a rethink about how sports is run in this country, and we as a country should look at the South African sports model so that this largely untapped resource can be utilised to its full potential.

It is time to get rid of the greed and corruption and start thinking of Kenya first.

Sports tourism is a huge industry and this is one brilliant way of Kenya taking advantage of its amazing natural resources to bring the best of the global sports industry to our shores.

A ministry of sports in its own separate capacity would be one way of getting that ball rolling.

— The writer is a sport journalist and runs a consulting firm.

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