Cabinet Secretary for Sports Rashid Echesa has dismissed a letter from world governing body, AIBA, which called on the Kenyan government to keep off the forthcoming Boxing Association of Kenya elections.
Speaking during the Isaac Mbote tournament, the fourth leg national league in Kakamega, Echesa said it’s high time AIBA realised that laws of the land supercede any other in the world. Echesa confirmed having instructed Sports Registrar Rose Wasike to move with speed and produce an audit report of BAK activities. The scrutiny on BAK activities has been ongoing over the past two weeks and is expected to culminate with a report any time now.
“After the Registrar of Sports’ report, is out those implicated in acts of corruption or abuse of office will face the full force of the law,” said Echesa.
A letter from AIBA said the world governing body ‘will only recognize the appointment of Lt Col P B Mung’ori as the acting secretary general.
AIBA added in the letter that it will only accept correspondence from Mung’ori’s office. “You are to organise elections as soon as possible in order to fully establish a board in accordance with AIBA and BAK statutes. Kindly inform the AIBA headquarters of the scheduled elections and submit relevant information,” said Aiba executive director Tom Virgets.
“It has been brought to my attention that the autonomy of the Boxing Association Kenya (BAK) is being threatened due to external interference by the government,” said Virgets in a letter dated November 22, this year. “I call your attention to Article 14 of the AIBA Statutes. More specifically, elections must be conducted in line with the BAK constitution and AIBA Statutes.”