Kenya disbands Olympic committee over 'embarrassment'

By Magdalene Mukami

Nairobi

Kenyan Sports Minister Hassan Wario disbanded Thursday the National Olympic Committee of Kenya(NOCK) for embarrassing the country at the Rio Olympics, which ended Sunday.

Several issues reportedly arose in the management of athletes in Olympic Games that saw the athletics team manager, Michael Rotich, recalled over doping bribery allegations. He was later arrested upon landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

“What they were doing was going to cause us a lot of embarrassment, it is the responsibility of every good citizen to uphold patriotism and spirit of national building, the troubles that our team faced in Rio were completely unnecessary,” the Kenyan sports minister told reporters Thursday.

“For the interest of sporting discipline in Kenya, citing powers conferred upon me by the sports act and considering national interest I do hereby disband the National Olympic Committee of Kenya with immediate effect,” he added.

Among the reasons that the minister cited for disbanding NOCK is the alleged mismanagement of the athletes and the entire Kenyan team ranging from accommodation and travel mishaps, mishandling of the accreditation of the list of participants and the perennial problem of disappearing sports kits.

Hassan Wario added that he had formed an investigation committee to carry out independent inquiries of the alleged mismanagement and present the report to him by Sept. 30, 2016.

Kenya won 13 medals in total at the Rio Olympics in Brazil -- six gold, six silver and one bronze.