Sports Ministry to look towards Afya House for sports resumption white smoke

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 16 – The Ministry of Sports says the resumption of sporting activities in the country will depend on advice given by counterparts from health, even as Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed announced that by Friday evening, 4,050 sportspeople had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Sports was halted in the country when President Uhuru Kenyatta released a raft of new preventive measures to curb the rising numbers of COVID-19 infections, but the recent vaccination of sportsmen has given hope that there could be a resumption soon.

CS Amina has also stated there is hope, but all dependent on what Afya House advises.

“There is always hope, but resumption will depend on the numbers and the trend with the pandemic and how it behaves in the country. Our colleagues from the Ministry of Health have been talking about the numbers and they seem to be stabilizing but they are still high,” CS Amina said.

She adds; “We will be looking to them for leadership and advise on when they think it is safe to start opening up the sporting space.”

Athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics have however been allowed to continue training in their bubble camp at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani.

“The Olympic athletes will continue training at their bubble camp and will not be allowed to leave until the Olympics. We have agreed with NOCK that there will be testing every so often, maybe once a week to ensure that everyone is negative,” Amina added.

Sportsmen have continued to call on the President to allow a resumption of sports which had started with very stringent conditions with no fans allowed and sportsmen tested every so often.

The Football Kenya Federation and the Kenya Rugby Union have been vocal on their wish to be allowed back to the pitch.

“If you look at the positivity rate in Rugby, it was less than 3pc and we were testing every two weeks. I believe we can be allowed back still with the same protocols and we can show that we can play responsibly,” Kenya Rugby Union boss Oduor Gangla stated.

FKF’s Nick Mwendwa has also stated that the vaccination process is a hope that the discussion to open up sports can be achieved.