Senator Cherargei Unhappy With Kenya's Performance In World Athletics Championships, Blames Sports Management

• The senator said that Kenya would have performed better in the World Athletics Championships if athletes were well motivated
• He accused sports management officials of allegedly misappropriating monies meant to take care of the needs of the athletes
• Kiprotich Cherargei warned that if indeed the sports management officials let down the athletes, they would be held to account

Nandi senator Kiprotich Cherargei is unhappy with Kenya's performance in the World Athletics Championships that ended on Sunday, August 27, in Budapest, Hungary.

Kenya medals in Budapest 2023

Kenya emerged position five in the world and the best in Africa in the competitions that saw 195 countries plus the Athlete Refuge Team compete.

Taking to his social media accounts, Cherargei said that Kenya's performance that saw the country clinch three gold medals, three silver medals and four bronze medals was poor.

"On the recently concluded world athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary Kenya recorded poor performance in recent history of athletics competitions," said Cherargei.

He attributed the results which he described as poor, to team demotivation by those tasked to take care of athletes' welfare and sensationally claimed that money meant for the sportsmen was misappropriated.

Kenya athletes allowances

"The poor performance is majorly because of team demotivation. I just caught up with a number of athletes who shared their frustrations with me. They said they were entitled to USD 300 (KSh 43500)per day but were paid USD 60 (KSh 8700) per day," he claimed.

He was angry that the amount that was allegedly taken off athletes' expected motivation was too much to ignore and vowed to institute a probe in a bid to bring to book those responsible for the situation.

The legislator demanded that all tickets paid for the team members that left the country for Budapest must be put in public for transparency and accountability, alleging that some transactions in terms of airfare were questionable and concealed.

Ababu Namwamba on the spot

Cherargei whose defense for Kenya's sports said it was unacceptable for the country to pay economy tickets for top athletes who put the country in the world map like 1,500 and 5,000 metre world champion in women's races Faith Kipyegon.

"Why would a legend Faith Kipyegon and other athletes fly economy class whereas Ministry of Sports and Athletics Kenya (AK) joyriders fly first and business class?" he posed.

The senator has recently been on the case of Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, accusing him of failing in his mandate to take care of the welfare of all the country's sportspersons.

Earlier, Cherargei blasted Namwamba for inviting content creators for a meeting, saying he needed to prioritise sportspersons and genuine stakeholders in the world of sports.