Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and the Arts Ababu Namwamba has refuted claims that he is mismanaging his docket, adding that he is not ready to step down.
The CS made the remarks while appearing at a plenary session for questioning by Members of Parliament over allegations of mismanaging his Ministry.
Kajiado MP Elijah Memusi asked the CS if he was willing to resign based on issues raised in the House.
“I have not in any language said, at all, that I am not in control of this ministry. What I can confirm is that I’m fully in touch and control of this ministry," he said.
The CS said it was unfair to blame him for all that could go wrong in the Ministry since there are other personnel assisting him in executing his mandate.
“I have made it clear that this is a public institution and it cannot be run as a one-man show. I share responsibilities with my two principal secretaries and I share responsibilities with my technical officers and I also know that sports has other stakeholders who play a critical role in the management of sports,” Ababu said.
He said an experience where Kenya suffered Fifa’s wrath required the government to tread carefully when dealing with federations.
“The reason why Kenya was banned by Fifa in 2021 is because the government attempted to do something that is interpreted as meddling in the affairs of the federation,” he observed while appealing to Parliament to help make federations accountable.
“If we genuinely want to improve sports in this country, please oversee the Ministry and make sure it is performing optimally. But don’t close your eyes to the federations, which also have a critical role to play.”
In response to an inquiry made by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei, Ababu refuted claims that he misled the nation to believe that the government had launched the Talanta Hela app.
The Talanta Hela ecosystem is a very broad program with a long implementation time frame and each of the activities that are set under this program is one, he said.
“It is not true that the president launched something non-existent. The president launched a program that is being rolled out through the internet,” Ababu said.
He also denied allegations made by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei that Ministry officials travel with “girlfriends” at the expense of the nation’s top sports representatives.
“I am not aware of any joy riders being part of any official delegation accompanying any Kenyan team to any event. If it’s the event that we are discussing here, the para-Olympics in Berlin, the Ministry was represented by only two officers whom I have named here —the CEO of the Kenya Academy of Sports and the acting-director of sports,” he said.
Ababu also refuted accusations by Shollei that national teams wore substandard apparel secured from the back streets to an international event.
“I flagged off the teams and they all wore official Nike kit,” he said in response to allegations made by Shollei that the teams wore ‘cheap Adidas outfits’.
He also denied allegations raised by Majority Leader and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichun’gwah, who questioned why Kenyan teams jetted back into the country without being received by any official from the ministry.
