The family of boxer Bradlyne Shitakwa is still waiting for him to receive medical treatment following head injuries sustained during the recent Kenya Open Boxing Championships at the Charter Hall.
The event, organised by a rival faction opposed to current BAK office led by John Kameta, was using the event top select Team Kenya to the Africa Championships
According to his mum Edith Mutimba, the young boxer, aged 20, picked the injuries last month and was rushed to Nairobi Hospital for scans. He was then transferred to Kenyatta Hospital, where the mum says he was abandoned.
“At Nairobi Hospital, they wanted Sh150,000 but that amount could not be raised. He was then taken to Kenyatta Hospital but no one really took care of him even though he was in severe pains,” she said. After staying at Kenyatta Hospital for a while, the mother says officials of Tegla Loroupe Boxing Club offered to take him to another hospital but the move aborted and the boxer is currently at home and nothing fruitful has come up.
“He is here at home. The people from Tegla Loroupe Boxing Club keep on saying they will come and take him to hospital but this hasn’t happened and it is getting worse. sometimes he complains of severe pain in his head and I don’t have the money to take him to hospital,” she added. She was also bothered by the fact that nobody has visited to talk to the young boxer during this period. “They have only treated us to empty promises,” she said. Our efforts to reach Tegla Loroupe were fruitless as they went unanswered. However, sources noted that Loroupe may not be aware of what the boxer was going through.
Shitakwa was fighting Kenya Police boxer Mogunde in the welterweight. In the matchday sheet, he is listed as a boxer from Kakamega—a move which BAK has protested, saying their rival faction was not genuine with the list. President John Kameta says the list was doctored and that some boxers were allocated wrong counties to in order to show their rivals have numbers.
Kameta further accused them of failing to take care of the boxers during the championship, saying the match officials and judges used during the matches were unqualified and knew little about boxing. “Qualified referees know when to stop after a boxer appears to be picking injuries. This match would have been stopped if the referee was qualified,” he said.
