The ministry’s decision to disband the committee came after pressure mounted from public anger on heads to roll following the debacle that rocked Team Kenya to the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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The officials are accused of mismanagement of the athletes who brought the country her best ever Olympics performance of six gold, six silver and a bronze, taking a large number of joy riders to Rio at taxpayers’ expense and pilfering and then selling off official kit that left the competitors threadbare.
Having witnessed Soi and Chacha arrested, there was little sympathy for the officials as the athletes told of the mistreatment accorded to them especially after the Olympics Village was officially closed on August 24.
“It’s true Francis Paul has been arrested over the Olympics issues”, said a police source who wished to remain anonymous.
However, Paul, who is now in custody, claimed that Wario did not have the legal competence to disband the NOCK, which is overseen by the International Olympic Committee, not the Kenyan government.
Kenya’s Sport Minister Hassan Wario had on Thursday announced the disbanding of the country’s Olympic committee with immediate effect.
Wario himself has faced calls for resignation, and on Wednesday he too was questioned in connection with the probe.
Before the Games, Kenya team captain Wesley Korir berated local Olympic committee officials, saying they needed better management, payment of pending allowances and an immediate end to alleged harassment of athletes by anti-doping officials.
“NOCK officials assured the kit, accommodation was in place”, Wario said when disbanding NOCK. “If you are the head of an organization and you do not even know what is going on, my friend you are supposed to go home”.
The country’s middle distance and marathon runners are world beaters, and enjoy huge global prestige and adulation in their own country. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) only cleared the country’s athletes at the last minute after parliamentarians botched the passage of a new law created to convince world authorities that Kenya is serious about tackling the widespread doping that has seen at least 40 athletes banned since 2012.
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Kenya’s athletics manager was also sent home from the Olympics and is being detained while police investigate allegations that he had warned athletes before the Games about drugs tests in return for cash.
