NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 2 – Athletics Kenya has concluded its nationwide consultative forum with a final athletics stakeholder meeting in Kapsabet, Nandi County.
Past and present athletes as well as coaches, managers and officials among others, congregated at Kapsabet Showground for the meeting convened to identify and resolve the issues affecting the athletics fraternity.
One of the sore thumbs identified during the deliberations was the increasing number of athletes entangled in debts as a result of exploitative loan terms by shylocks.
Marathoner Jane Seurey elaborated how the Covid-19 situation has forced many athletes into debt slavery with shylocks.
“It was extremely difficult to survive during the height of the pandemic. We have a lot of needs which needs resources, so without a source of income, it is easy to fall prey to the shylocks,” she said.
Seurey urged her peers to take a cue from teachers and other professionals within the region who have put their savings into Saccos and welfare groups.
“It is a pity to see shylocks taking personal properties from athletes because the athletes are not able to repay loans. If we had a Sacco, it could have been easier to borrow from them and be able to return later when things get better,” Seurey bemoaned.
Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir urged county governments to invest in more local races to provide as many athletes as possible with opportunities to earn from their talents.
“I started at the bottom where local races played a key part. I know there many athletes like myself out there, I want to challenge our leaders to channel more resources to more races at the County level,” he said.
Her comments were echoed by marathoner Benjamin Bitok who cited Uasin Gishu as a county that has put a lot of effort in staging local races for the benefit of athletes.
“Counties like Uasin Gishu have their own races and big marathons where athletes are being paid well, I don’t understand why our county can’t emulate or even go a step further,” Bitok said.
Commenting on the plague of shylocks, head of the program Barnaba Korir expressed hope that athletes’ have learned from the experience and won’t repeat the mistake.
“We have heard of several cases of our athletes falling victim to this vice. Our appeal to the athletes is to desist completely from taking this sad path, which has financially crippled a big number of local athletes,” Korir said.
He also challenged them to cultivate a saving culture.
“Just because you will have an opportunity to run tomorrow does not make you squander what you have earned today. I urge you all to think about tomorrow,” he said.
During the session, athletes were also cautioned against fake managers.
“We have plenty of fake managers in Kenya and conmen are flooding the sport on the pretext of helping athletes to compete abroad, but in the long run, they vanish with their earnings once the prize money is paid. AK cannot do this on their own; the athletes must seek advice before getting into such suspicious contracts,” Tanui said.
Focus now shifts to a one-week retreat where all the issues raised from the 15 zones across the country will be compiled along with plausible solutions.
