The appointed sports and youth affairs cabinet secretary Ababu Namwamba succeeds former CS Amina Mohammed. Namwamba inherits piles of challenges in the said ministry. Some of the key issues awaiting him to solve include:
The FIFAban on the country’s soccer following government’s interference with operations of the federation of Kenyan football and its consequences such as the Kenyan players being denied chance of playing abroad and Harambee Starlets missing chance to play the upcoming African Women Football Championship(AWCON) as well as Gor Mahia and tusker missing the confederation cup (CAF).
The misunderstanding between the government and the Federation of Kenyan Football (FKF) with regard to several allegations of graft revolving around boss the federation chair Nick Mwendwa as well as the tug of war between the football caretaker committee, FKF, and the national government.
Frustration of sports benefactors such as betting companies which are overtaxed in turn shunning away from sponsoring various clubs e.g the Sportpesa incident which caused it to halt from supporting Kogalo until recently when it decided to finance the Lakers once after a span of about 3 years.
Poor financing that cuts across all the sporting activities in the country especially football clubs which for decades have been crying due to lack of adequate funds to fully operate as well as pay players who have been going without wages even for months.
The degrading dignity in athletics caused by increased doping by Kenyan athletes despite the country’s glory in the athletic competitions including record setting and breaking both in short relays and long distance marathon…among other myriads of drawbacks.
Is Namwamba the real antidote for the devastating problems faced in the sporting sector of this country? That is the central question which remains in the minds of fans, players, coaches and all the stakeholders in the sporting arena. All eyes are now on him with much expected to take the ministry of sports to the next level.
Story by Brian Simiyu
