Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has responded to public demands for a full list of all the people slated to travel to France for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kenyans were mostly concerned about the list of all non-competitive participants travelling at public expense with the official Kenyan delegation to the Paris Olympics.
In a statement on July 11, Namwamba said he convened a meeting with the Preparatory and Management Committee (PMC) on Olympics on Wednesday, 10th July, and resolved that the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK) is the custodian and responsible body for the games.
“NOCK should expedite finalization of the Team Kenya delegation to the Paris 2024 Olympics comprised of athletes, officials and medics, detailing the specific role of each member of the delegation,” reads the statement in part.
“The delegation to be kept at the barest minimum as directed by myself and affirmed by the PMC. The priority is athletes, their coaches and medics.”
CS Namwamba Responds After Uproar
Namwamba also directed NOC-K to hasten the rationalization of the provisional budget that was initially agreed between NOCK and the Sports Principal Secretary Peter Tum.
Namwamba said the budget should include the exact number of athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympics, allowances and rewards.
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“The final budget to reflect the actual number of qualified athletes, revised scale of allowances and rewards for athletes (Revised 2023), and the austerity measures the Ministry is implementing across all expenditure centers,” the statement reads further.
The CS further directed the committee to prepare a detailed report on the process, status and cost of the ceremonial, training and competition kit for Team Kenya procured by NOCK.
He directed that both the Team Kenya Delegation and the final budget to be presented at the next meeting of the PMC.
“Do further note that in line with the Government’s transparency and accountability policy, the full Team Kenya delegation should be made public by NOCK,” he said.
“We wish Team Kenya good health and great success as they fly our national flag on the world’s grandest sporting stage.”
Kenyans Pile Pressure on CS Ababu Namwamba
His response comes after Kenyans and the Ombudsman Kenya asked the CS to provide a schedule of the allowances and sustenance costs for each of the non- competitive participants heading to Olympics.
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Furthermore, Ombudsman asked the CS to provide a schedule detailing the individual roles of each non-competitive participant traveling at with the official Kenyan delegation.
The commission also asked Namwamba to provide an indication of the cumulative costs of the non-competitive participants travelling to the Paris Olympics.
“The Commission therefore requests you the CS to respond to the request in line with section 9 (4) of the ATI Act, 2016 and inform it of the measures taken by the Ministry to implement proactive disclosure of information under section 5 of the ATI Act, 2016.
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