Feeling Good -Kenyan Inc

Kenyan sporting scene seems to be enjoying some feel good factor at the moment. After a sterling performance at the Olympics, our Kenyan boys picked up from there and ran with the ball, well almost literally!
Saturday’s game had a carnival mood to it and Kenyans had all sorts of avenues to get the games updates. From the screens (SuperSport & KTN) to the radio stations (FM stations mainly) and web-based sites. This meant for an 1 ½ most streets were clear of human traffic.
As we speak our Kenyan paralympians are in Beijing doing their thing. I can almost expect more than 2 gold medals and the carnival mood continues….
But the underneath this is a façade of uncertainty and mismanagement. There’s also lack of creativity and development in some areas.
o How come it’s only athletics which got us medals from the Olympics? We came close in some events outside athletics but misses ain’t good as a bronze or silver medal.

o In 2 weeks time, the Athletics Kenya fraternity gets a new breath of life …well I hope so, what does this portend for the discipline? Over the weekend one official tried to enumerate the reasons for his re-election but in my opinion he didn’t address his office and chose to focus on success of the Association instead of his own.

o Coming to the world of soccer, is it me or do you wonder when Kenya signed apparel contract with Adidas? If so, when and how much is it valued at? Still on that, I saw different jerseys (one with KFF’s multi-colored logo while another with a bluish logo) on Saturday leaving me to wonder which the legitimate ones were. There was also no local company willing to sponsor the jersey’s frontal?

o Who can answer me on this? Does KFF run the national team and if so is it through the Harambee Stars management team? What role does the Kenya Premier League play? Can’t the two bodies merge and work together?

o In Saturday’s game, I saw at least 5 different local firms which I presume sponsored the game in one way or the other- from Kenya Data Network (KDN-Butterfly) which had its logo all over our screens – Standard Group which screened the match live through its TV station KTN, Radio Africa (Kiss FM), KPMG which sponsored the time updates, to EABL which still manages to throw in a brand or two in such events. What is each firm’s contribution and role in bringing the game(s)?
As we continue in this mood, I also must keep reality in check just to know where our heads are headed to and not use our hearts to lead our sports into greater glory.




Feel Good Inc-Gorillaz