Hits, misses in sports over last 10 years
As President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto celebrated Madaraka Day yesterday, to mark their last national celebrations as the Presidency, PD Sports takes a look at some of the hits and misses in the country’s sports sector in the last 10 years.
The last 10 years have witnessed mixed sports fortunes for the Jubilee government, but the gains supersede the miss achievements.
When the Jubilee government was campaigning prior to ascending to power in 2013, it promised to streamline sports.
During the official launch at Kasarani gymnasium and which was beamed live on all local televisions in the country, there was a lot of braggadocio by the mandarins on how the newly elected government would turn round the fortunes of the sport.
“Our collective love of sport and the arts is one of the strongest factors that unite us. In the sporting arena, we are world leaders in middle and long-distance running. At home our culture is vibrant and thriving,” read part of the Jubilee manifesto.
In a nutshell, the manifesto was circled around three policies; ‘Umoja, Uchumi na Uwazi.’
Sports, which have put the country on the world map, were listed among the promises of Umoja.
While the promised five stadia were not completed, or rather were not built to meet international standards set by world football governing body Fifa, the country managed to perform exemplary at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where Team Kenya bagged the highest number of medals in the competition’s history.
Kenya went ahead successfully host the World under 18 and 20 championships, not to mention three Continental Tours.
The national rugby sevens team also managed to write history by winning the Singapore leg of the world series in 2016.
Another key highlight of the departing administration was the return of the Safari Rally to the World Rally Championships (WRC) calendar after 19 years in the cold and an assurance of being part of the calendar for another four years.
National football team Harambee Stars participation in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, the first time in 15 years was another major milestone that the government must take credit of, however, corruption allegations that led to FKF being disbanded by government leading to the current indefinite suspension by FIFA pokes some holes in the gains.
