How key players contributed to Nairobi winning bid for world meet
Athletics
By
Stephen Rutto
| Sep 24, 2026
Kenya’s 2029 World Championships bid was like a bruising marathon race on a long and winding course that continues to redefine the country’s athletics prowess.
When Kenya’s athletics story, spanning more than 68 years, from 1954, when the country made its debut at the Vancouver Commonwealth Games, is finally written, hosting the 2029 World Athletics Championships is set to occupy several chapters, observers say.
The country struggled for superlatives to describe its winning bid when Nairobi was awarded the hosting rights on September 15.
Although athletics stakeholders have warned against prolonged revelry following last week’s historic decision by the World Athletics Council, urging the country instead to roll up its sleeves and put the right systems in place for planning the 2029 premier athletics show, the idea of Kenya becoming the first African country to host the biennial event refuses to fade away.
Legendary athlete and three-time Boston Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein anchored a team that earned the backing of a section of top Ministry of Sports officials at the initial stages of the bidding process, as well as powerful government figures.
But behind the triumphant bid was a relay of government teams, each taking the baton at different stages of the race to deliver the global show.
One such official is soft-spoken former Sports Principal Secretary (PS) Peter Tum, the current Kenyan ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Before he was appointed ambassador during a reshuffle in March last year, Eng Tum was the chief coordinator supporting the investment aspect of the bidding process. He had served as Sports PS since May 2023.
"My role was to spearhead the post-mortem analysis, ensuring we directly addressed those infrastructural gaps. We systematically audited our stadiums, fast-tracked critical upgrades, and reframed our strategy. Instead of letting the Tokyo loss discourage us, we used it as a diagnostic roadmap. That resilience and willingness to build out our capacity is exactly what made our subsequent bid for the 2029 World Championships undeniable,” Tum told Standard Sports.
The diplomat recalls hosting a series of meetings and pushing for additional resources for infrastructure upgrades after Nairobi lost the 2025 World Athletics Championships bid to Tokyo.
"Credit goes to President William Ruto because he prioritised sports and this resulted in a boost for the budgetary allocation to the sector, as well as the development of a strategic plan. The result was a more deliberate approach to investments in sports facilities and infrastructure, developing technical capabilities within the sports department,” said Tum.
He said if executed with the finesse of a memorable international event, the 2029 championships would open doors for Kenya to host more global competitions and, in effect, grow its sports tourism sub-sector.
"In both the World Championships and AFCON bid, you will find that about 60 per cent or more of the actual capabilities required are identical—security and safety, logistics, policy, ease of movement, healthcare facilities, technical expertise and so forth. What is different are the more specific requirements, usually highly technical, required for a specific sports event,” the former Sports PS said.
Tum, who was last week absolved by the State Corporations Appeals Tribunal over his role in the Sh1.8 million surcharge arising from the appointment of a corporation secretary during his tenure as the CEO of Kenya Medical Training College in 2015, said he was confident that Kenya will appoint a strong team and establish systems in readiness for the 2029 Nairobi World Championships.
"Every civil servant in the public service is subject to certain rules and regulations. When you are in a position of responsibility, you work according to these rules and regulations. There are institutions that oversee your work, actions and decisions. At any time, your actions can be the subject of review by these institutions, without prejudice,” he added.
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, who served from October 2022 to August 2024, recalls finding a dusty file containing details of Nairobi’s failed 2025 World Championships bid on his in-tray—an encounter with the past that, the current Kenyan ambassador to Uganda says, jolted him into action.
"Looking at that bid, there were serious issues around infrastructure,” Namwamba says.
The former CS teamed up with officials at the Ministry of Sports and technical experts as they embarked on a sports infrastructure journey aimed at hosting twin events—the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and the 2029 World Championships.
He imagined and spearheaded the construction of the world-class Talanta Stadium and kick-started the upgrade of Kasarani Stadium to World Championships standards as he unlocked billions at the Sports Fund.
He further recalls: "So I told Athletics Kenya (AK), let the 2025 bid go, prepare to go to Tokyo to attend the World Athletics Championships, pick lessons, and then let’s sit down and put in a solid bid for 2029.”
The World Athletics Council had awarded Tokyo the hosting rights for the 2025 Championships on July 15, 2022, just three months before Namwamba assumed office.
Kipchumba Murkomen, who took the baton from Ababu Namwamba, continued the 2029 Nairobi bid race.
Murkomen says Kenya was not awarded the hosting rights by fluke.
"When I was moved to the Ministry of Sports in December 2024, AK President Jack Tuwei came to me and told me that they wanted to host the World Athletics Championships. I’m very excited about hosting the World Championships. We are going to be hosting the World Championships for the first time in Africa,” says Murkomen, who was at the helm of the Sports Ministry for four months.
He recalls: "It looked like it was a joke at the time. But we drafted a letter and approved that they (AK) could go ahead and bid. Even though I had faith, my faith was not as big as that of the President. You don’t do such crucial letters without consulting the head of state. I went to the President for consultations and he gave the green light.”
According to Murkomen, Kenya had engaged World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, who was in the country even before the country bid for the 2029 Championships.
"From there, the head of state took over as the chief campaigner for the bid.
Kenya's World Athletics Championships bid chairman, three-time Boston Marathon winner Ibrahim Kipkemboi Hussein. [Stephen Rutto, Standard]
"I don’t know if Kenyans know what hosting a World Athletics Championships means to our country,” Murkomen said earlier this week during a forum in Eldoret.
The lingering doping question, which has been the black spot in Kenyan athletics, dominated debates soon after Nairobi was preferred over London and Rome.
Hussein, the Nairobi 2029 World Championships bid chairman, says the Kenyan team overcame the doping scare.
"It is a question that many people ask every time. But we demonstrated that no country had invested colossal amounts of resources to fight doping more than Kenya.
"Kenya has been transparent in its fight against doping and the doping cases have indeed been many because we have a huge testing pool compared to other countries. It is also worth noting that doping in Kenya is an individual problem and not systemic,” the legendary long-distance star says.
Late last year, Kenya survived harsh sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over an anti-doping non-compliance charge.
But the global body found that the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) had achieved significant and demonstrable progress in fighting the menace.
Murkomen says Kenya’s security apparatus has enhanced its surveillance on doping rings, including pharmaceutical outlets that knowingly dispensed banned substances to some athletes.
"The doping issue is an important subject for discussion and we need a conference on dealing with it with finality,” he said.
In January 2023, Namwamba says, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe landed in Nairobi to demand decisive action in the fight against doping.
"Among the agenda was a serious concern about doping. I had to put up a plan and the ministry had already earmarked Sh600 million, which would go into the war against the vice.”
He says doping was the second major problem that he confronted, aside from meeting conditions necessary for Kenya to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
"The issue of doping, which has dogged Kenya for a while, had not been properly addressed,” he said.
Sports scientist and Iten-based athletics coach Kipchumba Byron said a majority of the track and field athletes who will compete in 2029 are currently in schools and should be identified and nurtured early enough.
"It will also be crucial to set up specialist camps for nurturing young talents so that we showcase the best during the 2029 Championships,” the scientist said.
He says Kenya should begin exposing its young talents to high-performance training ahead of global championships that precede the 2029 show.
"We need to use the 2027 Beijing World Athletics Championships and 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as a test run for our 2029 talents.”
srutto@standardmedia.co.ke