NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 19 – Senators on Tuesday suspended business to pay tribute to record-breaking long-distance (10km) runner Agnes Tirop who was last week stabbed to death at her home in Iten, Eldoret.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherarkey who moved the motion said Kenya has lost a jewel who was one of the fastest-rising athletics giants on the international stage.
“Kenya has lost a young and promising heroine, who at the age of 25 years, brought so much glory to her country and was set to win more gold medals and break more world records,” the Nandi Senator said.
Until her demise, Tirop smashed the 10km world record, held gold in world cross country that she won in 2015, back-to-back 10,000m bronze medalist and senior world cross country team gold.
He further demanded a statement from the Ministry of Sports on measures it is taking to protect the country’s athletes who are the pride of the nation thanks to their eye-catching performance on the track.
Labour and Social Welfare Committee Chairman Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) said they will invite all the sports federations and players representatives to develop a draft legislation with a view to reaching out and helping sportspersons.
He noted that the Kenyan brand and economy suffers immensely when the athletes are mentally tormented and distracted from training and performing well on the track and field.
“It is a poetic injustice that we will be burying Tirop on her 26th birthday. She would have gone on for many years. I don’t understand why there is a fundraiser to bury this global icon. I will want to know what the Ministry is doing in respect to this fundraiser,” Nairobi Senator said.
Sakaja said Athletics Kenya (AK) is already preparing a workshop on mental in early December during which athletes will be invited for candid sessions to identify issues affecting them with a view to formulating solutions to the same.
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen mourned Tirop, as he stated that it is more painful that the Kenyan heroine lost her young life through a criminal act and exploitation by someone she trusted.
Deputy Speaker Margaret Kamar (Uasin Gishu) and Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot demanded that Tirop’s death be a wake-up call about the widespread nature of domestic violence and her own experience.
“Until we find a way of turning our sports into a business and looking at our athletes as a natural resource the same way South Africa values its gold mines and Saudi Arabia values their oil, is the same way we should be valuing our athletes,” Cheruiyot stated.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula observed Tirop’s demise is the latest in a series of misfortunes that have befallen various athletes in recent past, including suicide, family wrangles, alcoholism and illegal drug use as well as untimely deaths.
Kamar called for more advocacy and capacity building especially among the athletes and law enforcement agencies, which she said must be targeted at educating women and girls on their right to be free of violence and shown where, and how, to seek services if it does happen.
“We need to ask the Ministry of Sports to start paying attention to our young sports men and women, because they get a lot of money within a very short time. You run for a minute and you get a Mercedes, you run for two minutes, you become a billionaire, but who really trains and talks to this youth so that they know how to handle themselves,” the Uasin Gishu Senator posed.
Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior said it is sad that a number of athletes are suffering immensely in their personal spaces but have chosen not to seek help for fear of stigma by society.
“This young lady lost her life through a heinous crime, and strictly speaking there is a problem, infact what we should be suggesting is that some of these people should get VIP personal security immediately, because it is possible that they are being pursued either out of jealousy of finance, if you investigate you will find it is because of a prize money won somewhere, it is the something that happened to our marathoner Wanjiru. It is the same issues,” Kilonzo said in his tribute.
Nominated Senators Rose Nyamunga and Haji Farhiya Ali noted that the murder has shone a spotlight on violence against women which the government says has grown worse since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We should not be a country that chases after the wind, that once something happens, that’s when we start the blame game. We cannot blame a ministry, we cannot blame anybody, but we must put a system in place because the amount of money that these people earn, they should have accorded some empowerment and capacity building,” Senator Nyamunga said.
Farhiya noted that Tirop’s unfortunate demise is a product of mental anguish afflicting various sportspersons.
“Let us not have this as another murder case, this is a special circumstance and it should be treated as such. Mental health is a challenge at this point and specifically in this country and it needs to be addressed urgently so that this does not happen again,” she said.
Tirop was found in her bed at her home with multiple stab wounds to the neck.
Police on Thursday last week arrested Tirop’s husband whom they are treating as the main suspect.