Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario yesterday refused to accept defeat after the International Olympic Committee opposed his disbandment of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya and directed its president Kipchoge Keino to champion key reforms.
Wario was at pains to admit defeat before a Parliamentary committee and said the just concluded Lausanne talks with IOC and Nock were a win-win situation.
National Assembly Labour committee chaired by Matungu MP David Were while grilling Wario, his Permanent Ssecretary Richard Ekai and other senior ministry officials demanded to be told the resolutions from the Lausanne, Switzerland talks.
“This committee and Kenyans are anxious to know what transpired in the recent meeting with IOC and whether Kenya will participate in the next Olympics,” Aldai MP Cornelly Serem said.
Wario responded by reading a communique from IOC warning that due process particularly “strict” adherence to Nock Constitution and the Olympic Charter in all steps to reform the national Olympics committee had to be followed.
IOC pledged to supervise the process of reforming Nock to ensure the Keino-led team and sports ministry work together and in “good faith” for the national Olympics committee to hold free and fair elections before the end of year.
Nock are required to review and update its constitution and submit a copy of the amended version to IOC for approval in line with the Olympic Charter before conducting elections.
“The outcome of the meeting was a win-win for all sectors. What we were looking for was a road map for Nock’s clean up in terms of its constitution. It is a win-win again for Kenya because we are not to be punished with a ban in the next Olympics,” Wario said.
He added the country has four years to address mismanagement problems in Nock before the 2020 Olympic Games.
However, Mt Elgon MP John Serut was dissatisfied with the explanation and demanded to know whether Wario messed by disbanding Nock.
“IOC communique states very clearly on he proposed road map, not if Nock officials are reinstated. It is futuristic and we should not look into the past. Many things happened but we need to look into the future and what we learned from this,” Wario said.
Kipipiri MP Samuel Gichigi also demanded Wario to confirm whether he was ready to be surcharged to incur the ministry’s expenses in a High Court case filed by Keino challenging the disbandment of Nock.
“Some of us were worried when we heard you are disbanding Nock. You could have just faced a few people who messed and leave the entire federation (committee),” Gichigi said.
He expressed fear Wario was going to lose the case following IOC’s communique and that the Sports CS should individually be prepared to foot damages caused to Nock.
The CS, however, responded saying he awaits the court ruling on the matter.
The committee asked the Sports ministry to organise an official homecoming for the athletes for posting a historical record during the Rio Olympics by emerging the best in Africa.