09/11/2003
WECHE MOKADHO
JEXJALUO ****
;
P.O. Box 58972
00200 City Square
Nairobi
Kenya
31st August 2003
SAIF SAAEED SHAHEEN
Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar (formerly Stephen Cherono
of Kenya ), made history on 26th August 2003, by
winning the gold medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase
final at the 9th World Athletics Championship in
France, and in so doing, winning Qatar’s first ever
World championship medal. What would have been a
Kenyan gold medal for the taking, became a Qatari gold
medal for the making.
Saif Saeed Shaheen’s high profile defection and
accomplishment, is bound to prompt several other
Kenyan athletes to make similar choices. The list as
it already stands is alarming and growing. In addition
to Shaheen, there is his compatriot, Ahmad Abdullah
Hassan (formerly Albert Chepkurui), Wilson Kipketer of
Denmark and Wilson Kirwa of Finland. The need to
institute direction in Kenyan athletics and reverse
this disturbing trend, is critical. Athletics is a
source of great pride to this country and just about
all that this country appears to have left. We should
have presided over it’s growth as a National treasure
and institution, but have instead presided over it’s
decay.
Kenya’s disastrous outing at the 2003 World Athletics
Championship is a culmination of years of sporting
mismanagement in this country. We ought to have
learned from our equally lacklustre outing at the 2000
Sydney Olympic games, but didn’t. At both events,
Ethiopia easily triumphed over us, raising serious
doubts about the pole position we have held in
athletics in Africa for several years. One is bound to
question if our dominance would have been the same
over the past 40 years had not Ethiopia suffered years
of misrule under Emperor Haile Selassie and later,
Chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam.
This country by now ought to have had a fully fledged
world renowned athletics institute patronised by many
the world over. This country by now ought to have had
an attractive package for athletes, present and
retired, similar to that currently enjoyed by our
members of parliament. This country by now ought to
have had full scholarship programmes for outstanding
athletes, starting from our elementary schools and
running all the way up to our tertiary institutions.
Anywhere in the world that a Kenyan goes, he or she,
is likely to be asked whether they can run, a
distinction that is fast moving to our Ethiopian
neighbours.
Saif Saeed Shaheen, Ahmad Abdullah Hassan, Wilson
Kipketer and Wilson Kirwa, among others, were
certainly aware of these serious lapses and it must
have been what made them defect. For instance, it is
said that Saif Saeed Shaheen is guaranteed a monthly
salary of US $ 1,000 from this day on until his
demise, which is the kind of salary earned by only a
select few in Kenya today, and the kind of pension in
Kenya received only by retired senior managers,
retired senior executives, retired senior civil
servants and retired parliamentarians. Saif Saeed
Shaheen is not likely to have been either in Kenya’s
current constricted condition. The grim reality is
that the wife and children need to be catered for and
the rent needs to be paid, a grim reality that a
Nation has failed to address for the the past forty
years.
It has not been all bad. Legendary Kenyan athlete
Kipchoge Keino, is today the Chairman of the
prestigious National Olympic Committee of Kenya
(N.O.C.K.). This is a befitting reward for the
National icon that Kipchoge Keino is, a man who
brought so much pride and honour to this country. I
was one of those who grew up being encouraged to ”run
like Kipchoge Keino” (”Kimbia kama Kipchoge Keino”, we
used to be told in those days”). In the same token,
Kenyan marathon star Paul Tergat is a goodwill
ambassador for the United Nation's World Food
Programme whose assignments take him all the way to
the White House. In stark contrast however, Naftali
Temu, the first athlete to win an Olympic Gold for
Kenya, died a forlorn death on 10th March 2003 at the
Kenyatta National Hospital. Temu’s desperate situation
was salvaged by the waiving of his medical bill by the
government. Ben Jipcho, silver medallist in the 3000
metres steeplechase at 1972 Munich Olympic games, was
profiled in the media a number of years back as a
groundsman at the grand Moi International Sports
Complex in Nairobi. The very fine line between
prosperity and despair in Kenyan athletics is clearly
apparent. Unfortunately, most athletes end up in the
latter category, after dutiful service to an
unappreciative Nation.
Athletics in Kenya today should be what baseball is to
America, soccer is to Brazil, boxing is to Cuba, and
rugby is to New Zealand, but it is instead a conduit
for individuals to enrich themselves at the expense of
the sport. And enrich ourselves we do. Sports
officials in Kenya enjoy some of the best standards of
living, and there is a need for a revolution in Kenyan
sport if there is to be meaningful change.We should be
at the stage where we comfortably win 12 to 15 gold
medals at any major world event because we have the
potential, potential that is wasting away. This
translates into global careers for several hundred of
our sportsmen and sportswomen, revenue and goodwill
from proteges the world over, and revenue and goodwill
from tourism in general. Opportunities are staring us
in the face as we desert our country for menial
careers in the the west, middle east and far east.
The irony of sport in Kenya is that it has never
lacked support. A profound and lasting statement of
this was made by our founding father, Mzee Jomo
Kenyatta before he died on 22nd August 1978. Mzee
Kenyatta had a premonition of his death and that is
partly the reason he gathered his large family for a
final meeting in Mombasa on 14th August 1978. On the
day before he died, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, found it in
him to host the triumphant Kenyan contingent just
arrived from the 1978 Commonwealth games held in
Edmonton, Canada. Many remember how cheerful and
energetic Kenyatta was on that memorable day, which
concerned those aware of his ill-health. Kenyatta in a
most powerful and final way, made a final statement
and wish for the country that he loved so much.
Our second president, Daniel arap Moi continued with
this tradition in the 1980s especially, when he would
attend crucial continental soccer meets with his then
trademark white stetson. Our third and newly elected
president, Mwai Kibaki, looks intent on maintaining
this tradition. President Kibaki was present when
Kenya beat Cape Verde on 5th July 2003 to qualify for
the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament,
after a ten year Kenyan absence from the tournament.
So where is the problem ?
The problem is with us the people. We are the ones who
have failed to lend our support and goodwill to sport
in Kenya. It is impossible to build the required
structures without public goodwill and support. Saif
Saeed Shaheen, Ahmad Abdullah Hassan, Wilson Kipketer
and Wilson Kirwa may have betrayed their country for
forty pieces of silver, though no more than the rest
of us. It is depressing to note the ease with which we
have let the Manchester United / Arsenal craze take
root in this country. What are these teams and what do
they mean to this country ? Why don’t we support local
soccer and sport with the same frenzied passion ? I
pay tribute to the European soccer leagues which
Manchester United and Arsenal are part of, to the
extent that they have considerably helped to improve
African soccer standards, through the numerous African
players that play in them. We should however be
applying pressure on the Kenya Football Federation
(KFF), to create opportunities for Kenyan soccer
players in the European soccer leagues, as is the case
with Cameroon, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa, in
place of our continued zombie-like support for
Manchester United and Arsenal.
The game of pool can also be regarded as another sport
that has taken root in this country with remarkable
speed over the past six years. There is no real value
that pool is adding to this country, but if you want
to be regarded as somebody in this country, it would
be safe to learn how to play pool. It’s amazing how
desperate a people we are inspite of all it is that we
claim to be. There is no shortage of crowding and
queues in this country. There are queues at all banks,
queues at public phone booths, queues to purchase air
time for our cell phones and queues in cyber cafes.
One would imagine that this is a very prosperous
Nation, what with all the money transactions and
communication that take place. This country however,
is still in dire straits with limited indications of
improvement in the near future. The one place where
the queues and crowding are lacking and where they are
crucially needed, is in the development of sport in
this country.
Michael Mundia Kamau
Ka in gi mari moro ma di wandik ka to
orni
Akelo nyar Kager
jaluo@jaluo.com
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iwinjo?
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