NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 13- Athletics Kenya boss Rtd Lt Gen Jackson Tuwei has been appointed by the National Olympic Committee (NOCK) as Kenya’s Chief de Mission for next year’s Commonwealth Games to be staged in Gold Coast, Australia from April 4-15.
Tuwei will be deputized by Acting Commissioner of Sports Maina Kamau as new NOCK president Major Paul Tergat says his office will work to ensure that sports federations are actively involved in managing teams representing the country abroad.
“Previously it used to be the Executive Board members who were taking up these positions and when I came in I said things must change. We have to give these federations management positions in the team because they know more about these athletes and will do a better job,” Tergat told Capital Sport.
The new NOCK office held their first board meeting on Friday afternoon at their Mombasa Road offices where among the items on the agenda was picking Kenya’s management team for next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Kenya Judo Association chairman Shadrack Maluki who is also the NOCK First Vice chairman was appointed as the General Team Manager and will be deputized by former Maseno High School Principal Paul Otula.
Deputy Secretary General Francis Mutuku from the Kenya Lawn Tennis Association will be the Executive Officer while the Kenya Rugby Union has been asked to nominate one person to deputize him.
Meanwhile, Kenya Swimming Federation’s Winnie Kamau will be in charge of managing the women’s team while NOCK treasurer Eliud Kariuki will still be mandated to manage the finances for the Commonwealth Games.
Paul Rwambo will be Kenya’s overall Chief Medical Officer.
The management team is now expected to draft out Kenya’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games from naming the team, preparations and final travel.
-Negative Budget-
At the same time, Tergat has admitted that the Olympic Committee is operating on an almost negative budget and has hinted the board will urgently constitute a marketing and sponsorship committee to boost the financial status.
Tergat is also confident that the International Olympic Committee will resume its funding.
“The decision to sanction Kenya was made by the board and so, a decision to lift the sanction has to be taken by the same board and not the president alone. We are waiting for them to meet and be briefed of our situation and probably in the next week or so, we will be back to normal,” Tergat further said.
Prior to last month’s election, the Olympic Committee had been bathing in dirt especially after the fiasco that was the 2016 Rio Olympic team management but Tergat says his new team is working off their collars to ensure that they regain their credibility.
“This is one of the best teams that I would want to work with. The beliefs and agenda they have is similar to mine and everybody is supportive. It is unfortunate we found ourselves in shaky ground and hopefully we can find our footing and grow. There’s so much we want to do but it’s difficult when operating without financial muscle,” Tergat further said in an interview with Capital Sport.
–Kayange–
Meanwhile, Kenya Sevens veteran Humphrey Kayange says he is enjoying his new role in sports administration after being elected as the Male Athlete Representative. He hopes he can use his position to push for better management of Kenyan teams.
“It is exciting because it’s been long since someone held this position. For me it’s all about getting to talk to teams and players and knowing their concerns then trying to use that same influence to ensure that we manage athletes and teams a bit more professionally,” said the Mwamba RFC man.