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From a chequered career in the military, Wednesday's International Associations of Athletics Federation (IAAF) elections could thrust Kenya’s Jackson Kiprono Tuwei deep into the world of athletics.
Tuwei, a retired Lieutenant General at Kenya Defence Forces and also the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) vice president, will be seeking to kill two birds with one stone during the IAAF Congress in Doha, Qatar.
The Athletics Kenya president will be seeking to become one of the IAAF vice presidents as well as a Council Member.
Tuwei will battle for the four positions at stake in the vice president docket that has attracted nine contestants, including Ibrahim Shehu-Gusau from Nigeria. At least one of the positions should go to a woman.
Among those seeking to defend their positions are Sergey Bubka from Ukraine, who is also the senior vice president and Alberto Juantorena from Cuba.
Cameroonian Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, who is also the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) president, won’t seek re-election as one of the vice presidents.
Other contestants are Ahmad Al Kamali from United Arab Emirates, Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Saud from the Kingdom of South Arabia and India’s Adille Sumariwalla.
Kenya currently doesn’t have any person in the IAAF hierarchy after the late AK president Isaiah Kiplagat was defeated in his attempt to become one of the IAAF vice presidents and council member in 2015.
“Chances are high that he will be elected, having struck a good rapport with most Africa countries and him being the CAA senior vice president. His campaign in Asia has also gone smoothly,” said AK vice president Paul Mutwii.
Mutwii said Tuwei has also endeared himself to IAAF top hierarchy, hence boosting his chances with Kenya’s household name in athletics standing out.
Tuwei’s campaign that saw him seek support from the continent and outside, has been pegged on six main pillars with the fight against doping in athletics topping where he would want to engage IAAF’s Athletics Integrity Unit and World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) more.
Tuwei also wants to rejuvenate and promote track and field events in Africa and other continents especially those with no major or few international events.
“Currently, Rabat is the only African host of the Diamond League hence I want to build Africa capacity to have more competitions on the global circuit so as to expose and unearth the talent that we have,” said Tuwei.
“This should cut across other continents in countries where athletics in popular.”
Tuwei said he will deliberately invest his energies on age-group and women’s game development with a view of nurturing a steady production line of future world champions.
With over 400,000 refugees in the country, Tuwei said he will continue to support them to realise their full potential despite the difficult circumstances.
“I will also enforce integrity and good governance in athletics and ensure the management of the game is beyond reproach,” said Tuwei.
With no track and field circuit with money in Africa, Tuwei pledged a strong commercial operation in Africa which will bring in sustainable sponsorship and partnership programs to glove athletes an opportunity to make money.
