NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 19 – Kenyan marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge wants the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV) be directed towards athletics camps.
Kipchoge, who was speaking during The Agnes Tirop Conference in Diani, Kwale County candidly admitted that cases of GVB in athletics camps have since adversely affected the growth of sports “hence the need for gender equity in sports.”
“If you want to end GBV in athletics you start in the camps. Organize these camps and ensure that morality prevails.”
Kipchoge also noted that 95 percent of parents have failed to guide their children in matters morality.
“I am afraid to say that the society is rotten. There is no order these days. Parents have also neglected their children and sportsmen and women lack morality.”
Kipchoge reckons that 50 percent of the sporting fraternity lacks moral values which impacts negatively on them.
“If you sleep with a dog, you will surely wake up with flies,” Kipchoge went on in reference to wanton gender related violence against women.
“We need to instill the right character in sportsmen and women and ask ourselves hard questions whether we are giving our children the correct advice. I believe women are not disadvantaged, they are equal.”
The workshop has brought together Kenyan athletes, federations officials, team managers, coaches, representatives of international sports organizations, top government officials, investigative agencies, the leadership of the Judiciary, officials from international financial institutions and Non-governmental Organizations.
The Conference is being held in honour of the late cross country star Agnes Tirop who was brutally murdered in a suspected case of Gender-based Violence at her home, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
The three-day Conference is running under the theme: Leveling The Playing Field: Gender Inclusivity In Sports, and will include plenary sessions and panel discussions on key thematic areas such as legal, policy, and institutional framework, women in leadership and sports, mental health, resource mobilization, among others.