Why federations are to blame as local sports seek a helping hand

Will Thomas of Wales and Willy Ambaka of Kenya reacts at the conclusion of their men's rugby sevens round two match durin the Sydney Sevens rugby tournament at Bankwest Stadium on February 1, 2020. [AFP]

Though financial struggles in some federations have been well documented, most of the federations have witnessed some unpleasant activities in the recent past, incompetence and mismanagement appear to be literally hurting Kenyan sports. 

The current state of rugby can be well equated to former Attorney General Githu Muigai’s mortician analogy, national cricket team is now losing to the likes of Bostswana, while hockey, boxing and other disciplines are mostly living in past glory.

The sports management is in disarray with the ministry showing little interest in helping most of the troubled federations.

The recent disbandment of Talanta Hela council and technical committees barely four months after its establishment before the program was launched in a colourful ceremony at State House, speaks volume about lack of foresight in sports management in the country.

On various occasions, some officials have been thriving in the self-inflicted crisis within federations and clubs as they do business with them while others delay elections and use orthodox tactics to extend their stay in office. The officials have put their interests first at the expense of players, who are always the key actors.

For instance, Kenya Volleyball Federation is yet to hold elections since initial date in July 2022 due non-compliance with the Sports Act 2013 and unending court battles.

A few days after his return to the Sports ministry last year, CS Ababu Namwamba read a riot act to federation bosses as he vowed to streamline the rogue federations and rot in the sports industry.

But six months down the line, save for bringing stability in football by convincing Fifa to lift the nine-month suspension it had imposed on Kenya’s FA due to government interference and also ensuring Kenya is not banned from international competitions by World Athletics owing to a rising case of doping, it still the same old ways of operations in most federations.

“Our sporting federations must live up to the tenets of integrity, transparency and accountability. This is the minimum requirement we demand from them,” Namwamba said then.

“For non-compliant federations, it will be either the rule of the law or the rule of the jungle.

“Most of you (federation officials) want to be leaders for life, you don’t want successive conveyor belts to flow within your associations, the truth is you should be holding free, fair and democratic elections.”

He then came face to face with Shujaa woes after retired player Willy Ambaka took to social media to lift the lid on the ‘sad state’ of the team, revealing how lack of finances was threatening to kill the game.

The team had travelled to Dubai for the second leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, but had gone three months without salaries reducing them to beggars on social media.

Namwamba intervened and even reprimanded KRU officials, but it seems his efforts to save Shujaa never bore fruits as the team went on to be relegated.

“To be honest, Kenya Rugby Union has not treated the players well and they must make it up to them, the player is the King, the player is the Queen. The player is the goose that lays the golden egg and minus the players even these officials have no business being in office,” Namwamba said then.

But it is clear the heartbreaking Kenya Sevens relegation from the World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time in 20 years in May was self-inflicted. It evidently exposed the rot in the sport that has now taken the route of the national cricket team which was once a powerhouse in the world.

Unfortunately, it is not going to be a walk in the park for Shujaa to reclaim its core status soon if the status quo remains.

The team will have to go through the Africa qualifiers followed by the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger series to stand a chance of earning promotion back to the 2024/2025 Series.

And instead of this being a wake up call to a country that prides itself as a hotbed of sporting talent, most of the concerned authorities seem to have buried their heads in the sand. For them, it’s just business as usual. Nobody wants to take responsibility for Shujaa’s catastrophic meltdown.

From winning the 2016 Singapore Sevens under the tutelage of the late Benjamin Ayimba to being relegated in 2023, to many it looks like a movie. But frankly, the writing was on the wall and it was just a matter of time before the ticking bomb exploded. 

Though it exploded at the worst time possible, on the second death anniversary of Ayimba, the team's progress had taken a downward spiral in recent years.

This was occasioned by incompetent leadership, lack of modern facilities, high turnover of coaches, lack of sponsorship, mistreatment of players, lack of planning and foresight, fractured relationship between players and officials, lack of transition and reserve team to play in competitive international tournaments.

The union just shot itself in the foot as they failed to plan well for the future. The officials were all in their comfort zones as they never thought about the effects of the change of the series structure from 16 teams to 12 structures. While other core teams have been evolving in the series, the standards of the Kenyan game have literally stagnated.

And it is the exit of former captain Andrew Amonde, Collins Injera and Willy Ambaka followed by the ‘over 30 years’ policy that exposed the union’s frailties as the experienced players’ absence was heavily felt in the team. The likes of Denis Ombachi, Eden Agero, Oscar Ouma and Oscar Ayodi just left the scene unceremoniously due to many frustrations in the team. 

Having flirted with relegation for a number of seasons, the unexpected finally happened after Shujaa fell 12-7 to Canada in the playoff final in London on May 21.

In the 2014/2015 season during Paul Treu’s tenure, the team flirted with relegation for the better part of the campaign after the senior players downed their tools over unpaid dues.

Trail Blazers Volleyball club's Jean Masezerano (center) and Eugene Omondi block Titus Kimeli (left) in the 6th League Leg of the Kenya Volleyball Federation Men's Premier League at Nyayo National stadium on Friday, Feb 10, 2023. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The late Benjamin Ayimba's tenure, was also rocked by a similar dispute. Innocent Simiyu also had a related row in the 2018 season.

It is actually during Paul Murunga’s tenure in 2019 that the rains started beating Shujaa as they were compounded with similar issues before surviving relegation by a whisker.

Shujaa’s relegation will have far reaching implications on the growth of the game as KRU will no longer receive the annual grant of £300,000 (Sh53.6m) given to core teams and £150,000 (Sh26.8m) development grant from World Rugby. 

The union equally lost an annual grant of £100,000 (Sh17,8m) after the team failed to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The grant had been approved by the global body in 2021 to aid Kenya Simbas RWC 2023 qualification preparations following a successful presentation by former Kenya 15s head coach Paul Odera.

Unfortunately, Shujaa's relegation was followed by the withdrawal of Simbas from the Currie Cup due to financial constraints. The interesting part of Simbas’ troubles is that, the union committed the national 15s side to the tournament knowing very well they did not have finances to honour the fixtures only for the team to issue walkovers before eventually pulling out.

But the Ministry of Sports and Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund should take some blame too for the dwindling fortunes in sports if concerns from various federations and stakeholders are anything to go by.

National women’s volleyball team, Malkia Strikers players are yet to be paid all their allowances after participating in last year’s (September 23-October 15) World Championships that was co-hosted by Netherlands and Poland.

Each member of the playing unit (14 players and two coaches) only received a paltry Sh94,000 in allowances since they flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil for a high performance training camp, on June 26 2023 before proceeding to the tournament.

“The girls raised the issue of the pending allowances while we were commissioning the camp a few days ago, but we told them that we had already forwarded the appeal to the ministry,” said Kenya Volleyball Federation acting president Charles Nyaberi.

The Ministry of Sports owes Kenya Karate Federation over Sh45 million they used to host the Union of African Karate Federations’ Region East tournament on May 16-21, 2022 at Kasarani Gymnasium, while Kenya Tong-IL Moo-Do Federation are also yet to receive funds for the 10th edition of the Mombasa Open International Tong-IL Moo-Do tournament they held in December last year.

“Up to now the funds we applied for at the Sports Fund for the Region East Karate Championship are yet to be disbursed. It has really affected our operations as a federation as we are yet to clear hotel bills, players’ allowances and other bills. Delays in authorisation of such funds is really hurting us,” said KKF treasurer Biutha Mosomi.

Mosomi further revealed that their trip to Democratic Republic of Congo for the Great Lakes region UFAC qualifiers on July 17-23 is still hanging in the balance due the delay in clearance of their budget.

Another sports official who sought anonymity simply said: “There is a lot of disunity in Kenyan sport and hate. Some people just hate successful federations. But there is a need for the ministry to treat all sports federations equally and with dignity.

"Classification of sports in relation to size and age is killing new sports which have so much potential to bring more medals to the country and develop talent which can be monetised. If all sports are given equal rights the sporting industry shall be a great success.”

Fencing star Alexandra Ndolo, who secured a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics after being crowned the African fencing champion in Cairo, Egypt, last month, almost threw in the towel due to lack of support and funding from both the Kenya Fencing Federation and the government. 

The 36-year-old fencer switched her allegiance from Germany to Kenya in September last year. 

“It’s time to be honest with myself and with the people around me. I have reached my limit. I hate to admit it, I hate to ask for help, but I feel I can no longer lie. Especially if those lies are protecting the system that should support me,” she wrote on her social media pages in May.

“So far, I have organised and financed all of my fencing season. Despite this, I have completely exhausted my resources and built up a debt that is quite frankly threatening my existence. Contrary to the common Kenyan idea of people living in Europe, I am not a rich mzungu (European) who has bottomless pockets and can therefore be taken advantage of.

“All I have received these past nine months have been empty words and promises.”