Thursday 7 August 2008

Are our Kenyan officials up to the task ?


Watching our preparations before the team left for Beijing, I felt jittery with the current officials accompanying the team.
First the officials issued a notice to athletes advising them to show up at the training camps a month before the start of the Games, which was well and good only that few athletes agreed to remain there as most followed the Grand Prix circuit, chasing the $$$. Some analysts say they were building up to the Games by this but I don't agree with that.
Second instance came during a visit to State House where the team was kept waiting for almost 4 hours for the Head of State. OK, the Old Man on the hill may not be an early riser but it shows how poor we are in time management. They could say that he was trying to work on the reward schemes ....hmmmm?
Third has been the haphazard way the fringe members are handled. What do I mean here ? Look at what they had decided to drop the physiotherapist ? Were it not for the loud complaints from the athletics coach Mr. Julius Kirwa and the team captain Wilfred Bungei, the physio would be toiling with us here. Did you hear what the Chef de Missio said asked about a boxer's condition ?
What criteria do they use to choose these guys ? Who vets the competencies of our managerial team? Where do their reports end up once they come back from assignment ? Should their pay and allowances be pegged on the performance of the team ?
Otherwise we're just paying expensive accomodation and shopping trips for some of these guys !

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