How Kibaki earned coveted Hall of Fame, explains pro Kasuku
The late president Mwai Kibaki who once served as the patron of the Kenya Golf Union, was in 2108 inducted into the Kenya Open Golf Limited Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame Award is the highest honour in golf and is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves over a period of time in their service to the sport.
Olympian turned golfer Elisha Kasuku divulged to People Daily that the former President had a great impact on the sport.
The now-defunct annual Kibaki Trophy, the biggest and most popular golf event held at the Nyeri Golf Club tops the list of wins from the former Head of State.
Donated the trophy
The Trophy’s tournament was started in 1976 when Kibaki was Minister for Finance. He donated the trophy to Nyeri Golf Club and continued to sponsor the event until when he became the president in 2002.
Kasuku who was the professional co-ordinator during the event revealed that there were a couple of attempts to rekindle the tournament, once during Kibaki’s two-term Presidency and once after his retirement but sadly both were abortive.
“The tournament was a landmark to Kenyan golf tournaments in the country. The prize money stood at Sh 150,000 back then. That was a significant amount of money over 30 years ago,” Kasuku shared.
“I used to go to his office which was located at Bruce House Nairobi to collect the cheque, a huge amount if you ask me,” reflected Kasuku.
Kasuku noted that had the momentum continued, the tournament might have raised the standard of the game in the country.
“Kibaki took steps back when he rejoined active politics and eventually became the President of Kenya. His daughter Judy tried to rekindle the tournament but it was not successful, it eventually died off,” Kasuku noted.
Kasuku revealed that over 80 per cent of the professionals we have today are from the golf talent foundation. There was a lot of monetary contribution from the former president to the project,” recalls Kasuku who together with the late Charles Farrar, Peter Gitua and the late Abdala beka are the founder members of the golf talent foundation.
