Ministry of Sports officials yesterday told the Senate President that Uhuru Kenyatta was not booked on a cruise ship as claimed by the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K).
Led by Sports CS Hassan Wario and his PS Richard Ekai the officials told Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo’s Senate Labour and Social Welfare committee that the ministry was not involved in hotel bookings and never asked NOCK to book a cruise for the president.
The Sports PS said NOCK was mandated to organise for bookings in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Kenyan delegation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
While appearing before the National Assembly Sports committee, NOCK officials led by President Kipchoge Keino said that the Head of State had been booked on a cruise ship off the shores of the Brazilian city of Rio.
But Ekai said they have a list from the Rio organising committee sent to NOCK of hotels that were booked for the so-called international dignitaries, with the president listed being the president of NOCK, not the president of the Republic of Kenya.
Sources, however, say that Keino was booked at Windsor Hotel and his accomodation was paid for by the IOC. So it is not known who used the cruise ship.
“The others also booked in there was the secretary general of NOCK and other dignitaries,” Ekai said.
On Wednesday, State House rejected the claims made by NOCK with regard to the cruise ship.
“Foreign travel for His Excellency the President is arranged solely by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At no time does the ministry delegate that function to any other government department or agency,” said the statement from State House.
Ekai said they had communication written on June 17, 2015 from the Head of the National Olympic Committee Relations and Services of the IOC and the organizing Committee of the Rio Olympics, writing to Keino telling him that he would be able to book accommodation for the accompanying officials from Kenya.
Senators were told that Wario, Ekai and Kenya’s ambassador to Brazil Isaac Ochieng searched for the said cruise ship after getting information that Deputy President William Ruto was joining them in Rio.
“We looked for the cruise ship for more than a week and kept asking where it was.
“It was very far. We reached a point where we had to leave the car then walk on foot and go through security checks,” Ekai said.
“There were two rooms and it was pathetic, very narrow, very small and there was no way you could accommodate any Head of State there. We never asked as a ministry for accommodation on the ship. For us this was a complete disaster,” he added.
At the same time, Wario said he would have a meeting with IOC officials next week to agree on the way forward after the disbandment of NOCK.
“We are hopeful that we will reach an amicable solution to the issue, but I stand by my decision to disband NOCK,” Wario said. He said the sports federation had been run with impunity and it was time to act.
