What President Uhuru told NOCK

President Uhuru Kenyatta shares a light moment with Olympic champion and world record holder in the 800 metres David Rudisha, other athletes and officials after hosting The Beijing Olympics Team and the IAAF World Youth Championships Team for breakfast at State House, Nairobi.

It took the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta to break the impasse that has bedevilled the elections of the national Olympic body.

Sports federations and National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) officials yesterday met Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario, who read them the riot act.

It was a polite but stern warning to the officials to make sure the elections are held.

The two parties will meet today to come up with new dates for the elections. Further, a court case filed by the Kenya Taekwondo Association will be withdrawn to pave the way for the elections.

A source who attended yesterday’s meeting with Wario said: “The Sports Cabinet Secretary told us he had been sent by the President and Deputy President. The leaders ordered the withdrawal of a case that had stopped the elections. They also said a new date for the exercise should be set.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, were concerned that Kenya could be banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during its board meeting next month if the impasse is not resolved in good time.

The IOC has threatened to take further action against Kenya for failing to adhere to a tripartite agreement that was signed at its headquarters last September. The agreement had a timeline for holding elections as well as passing a new constitution. Nock chairman Kipchoge Keino said the committee will come up with a new date for the elections today.

“We will also convince those who took us to court to withdraw the case,” he said.

Before meeting Wario, Nock had called a meeting with its affiliates earlier in the morning. However, it was postponed after the Sports Cabinet secretary summoned them to his office.

This was the first time that Wario is directly being involved in the matter, perhaps an indication of the importance of the process.

On Wednesday, IOC member Paul Tergat expressed concern that Kenya could be banned if the matter was not resolved quickly.

“This is a very serious matter and if you read the tone of the letter written by IOC last week, you can see that they have lost patience with Kenya and will not hesitate to take action, which includes banning the country. We must try and resolve the impasse before July 9 and 10, when the IOC board meets,” he said. Tergat was the sole candidate for the chairman’s post in the aborted Nock elections.

Last week, IOC seemed to blame Nock officials for the delayed elections.