AK to release report on consultative forum in two months

NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 16 – Athletics Kenya (AK) chief Lt. Gen (Rtd) Jackson Tuwei has admitted they have unearthed a myriad of issues affecting athletes after undertaking a month-long series of consultative meetings across the country.

Tuwei says they have collected so much information and would be compiling all their findings over the next two months, after which a report will be released and several courses of action taken to ensure an improvement of the sport in the country.

Athletics Kenya went through four clusters that brought together 15 athletics-rich regions in the country where athletes opened up on the issues affecting them, ranging from scrupulous agents to administration issues.

Tuwei saying the federation, with the help of two external experts are in the process of compiling the final report with these and more issues.

Afterward, the report will be validated by all stakeholders to ensure all the core matters expressed during the month-long meetings are efficiently captured.

According to the data released by Tuwei, a total of 2921 participants took part in the forums, of which 1916 were male,736 female and 269 were coaches and other support personnel.

“We discovered so many issues from the meetings we had and we have already started working on some, which are administrative. Some of the issues they raised include getting approvals for races and as AK we have already started working on them,” said Tuwei.

Tuwei said whereas many of the issues highlighted were expected, some of them were quite earth-shattering and a reality-jolt on the need to work round the clock to address these concerns.

According to Tuwei, one of the recurrent matters saw a big number of athletes lamenting about was the continuous exploitation of young female athletes by unscrupulous coaches and managers.

“We understand the situation has not been helped by the fact that most of these juniors hail from poor backgrounds and are desperately in need of a helping hand, which provides these wolves in sheep clothing with an opening. I don’t want to be pre-emptive, but I want to assure our athletes that stern measures will be undertaken,” added Tuwei.

Among other issues that were raised included the halting of young female careers through early pregnancy and forced marriages.

Also of huge concern is the raising numbers of con-agents who have coerced money from unsuspecting athletes and their families.

“Many athletes and their families have been duped by middlemen in the guise of organizing races abroad for them only to disappear with their winnings. Moreover, we always remain hawk-eyed to persons masquerading as coaches to prey on young talents,” Tuwei disclosed.