The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
President William Ruto and then Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba in a past event. [REBECCA NDUKU/DPPS]
President William Ruto has nominated Ababu Namwamba for the Cabinet Secretary for Sports and Youth Affairs position.
Namwamba currently holds the position of Chief Administrative Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He makes a return to the sports docket after almost a decade.
He served as the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs between 2012 and 2013.
His major task will be to bring Kenyan football back to normalcy, spearheading the lifting of the ban imposed in February.
At the moment, sports in the country are at a crossroads.
Athletics, the country's most famous sports discipline, is on the downside if the performance at both the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom, are anything to go by.
Add to this, the doping menace, which has seen promising athletes continue to be banned before and after the Oregon championships, as well as the continued ban on Kenyans football by FIFA, and the task that lies ahead for the next administration becomes more clearer.
Apart from doping, the country's sports is plagued by maladministration, corruption, low investment in infrastructure and athletes' welfare, the problems bedeviling local sports are many.
For instance, local football leagues are, at the moment, being run under a transitional committee.
At the same time, national teams cutting across chess, volleyball, rugby, hockey and taekwondo have resorted to asking wellwishers for funding, amid claims they are incapable of financing their trips for international assignments. President William Ruto with Hon. Ababu Namwamba when leaders from Western Kenya paid the President a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi. [PSCU]
In July, Kenya's Simbas head coach Paul Odera appealed to fans to raise money for the team's 2023 Rugby World Cup qualifiers in France that was played on July 1-10.
The Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) also launched a campaign as the ladies' team (Malkia Strikers) were in danger of missing the World Championships due to a lack of funds.
In April, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealed billions of shillings disbursed to various sports federations in the country could not be accounted for.
46-year-old Namwamba will have to streamline all of this.
Other appointments include:
Attorney General - Justin Muturi
Secretary to the Cabinet - Mercy Wanjau
Energy CS - Davis Chirchir
Sports CS - Ababu Namwamba
Cooperatives CS - Simon Chelugui
Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs CS - Salim Mvurya
The Standard Group Plc is a multi-media organization with investments in media
platforms spanning newspaper print operations, television, radio broadcasting,
digital and online services. The Standard Group is recognized as a leading
multi-media house in Kenya with a key influence in matters of national and
international interest.
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