Our young athletes should not suffer in Gulf States

Okoth Omulo

I have always opposed this matter of defecting to the Persian Gulf States by our athletes.

Unfortunately, my views were mistaken in some quarters as, you guessed right, sour grapes. I am a staunch believer in patriotism, probably fired by my frequent trips abroad which opened my eyes to how people out there regard their countries, their sovereignty.

How can one disown his country for a pound of flesh? Isn’t it unimaginable that a person claims to be a citizen of another nation whose national anthem he can neither recite nor know its meaning?

If it was a matter of running away from stiff competition to qualify for Olympics or World Championships, isn’t it tantamount to cowardice? We have tens of top athletes who fought into our teams and represented us gallantly in Olympics, World and Commonwealth Games.

Let’s now look at the flip side. Stephen Cherono, Albert Chepkirui and a few others have done well in terms of repatriating their money from the Gulf States and investing in their native Keiyo.

THE TRICKLE-IN EFFECT

The trickle-in effect is quite visible in and around Eldoret, not to mention their families and relatives.

To that extent, this latter-day slave trade, which global Olympics chiefs dubbed passport-for-sale, had a mutually beneficial effect. They also won medals for their countries, which wanted to raise their profiles in sports, economy and political affairs. Athletics Kenya (AK) should revive the Stadium project Qatar was to build in Eldoret at Kaplombe. Somehow, things went quiet after Cherono was denied permission to run at 2004 Athens Olympics.

A NIGHTMARE

But for the rest of the athletes, it is a nightmare. Gregory Konchellah, who was renamed Kamel Saad, was denied thousands of shillings in bonuses and salaries. He has not been a happy man for long. Even by last year’s Olympics where he finished fifth in the 800m, these issues kept bothering him, until he said enough was enough. He decided to quit camp in Ethiopia, returned home and requested Athletics Kenya to help him regain his Kenyan passport.

Five more Kenyan-born athletes have now followed suit. They also want AK to help them return to Kenya after promises of millions went awry.

Reports of discrimination abound. Defectors from fellow Arab-speaking nations are treated well. They are accorded citizen status. Kenyan-born athletes are only given residency status, which does not accord them full citizenship.

Now this issue of primary school children representing Bahrain at the recent World Cross Country Championships in Jordan stinks. Why should such a thing happen and culprits allowed to get away with it? I thought the word impunity is only synonymous with the political class. As AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat asked, when they return home to resume classes in their schools, are they foreigners or what?

Yes, their parents’ consent is crucial for them to be registered as residents of those countries, but there are quite a few legal complications being circumvented in the process of spiriting them to the Gulf.

They are not refugees. They were not born there. And their parents have not been transferred to go and work there. These are just Kenyans whose parents are corrupted into giving their consent for their children to run for Bahrain in world championships. What they don’t know is what danger they are exposing their children to. International NGOs handling children’s affairs must rein in this scandal and take appropriate measures.

—The writer is The Standard’s Sports Editor

iomulo@eastandard.net

 

 

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