The Ministry of Sports is on the spot after officials mysteriously sneaked thirty-two joyriders to the United States at the expense of athletes chosen to represent the country at the World Athletics Championships.
The unfortunate incident left Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, who was expected to compete in the 100m race today evening, among those stranded in Nairobi despite his name being among those on the initial list.
It has been revealed that the dishonest State employees ensured that the joyriders were included in the initial batch of the Kenyan contingent, who flew out of the country on Friday last week to avoid discovery by hawk-eyed US embassy officials in charge of visa issuing.
Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei, was among those scheduled to leave the country this week only to be barred from leaving after the US embassy raised concerns about the delegation’s size.
While AK had supplied the ministry with a list of 80 athletes and officials for visa processing, the list submitted to the US embassy comprised 112 names, 32 of which were new to the athletics body.
The US embassy appeared to throw fingers at the ministry yesterday, claiming that it may have modified the list of contingents attending the games, causing the visa issues.
According to a source who sought at the Embassy due to diplomatic etiquette, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed was informed of the visa issues.
According to the source, CS should have provided the date the applications were submitted, the date the visas were obtained, and the number of applicants.
In the most recent batch “The inclusion of Omanyala and Tuwei in the penultimate batch was done to deceive Embassy officials since they knew the top sprinter and federation President couldn’t be left out,” the source added.
Amina, on the other hand, dismissed the visa issue, calling it a “typical” obstacle. While verifying that Omanyala had received his visa and was on his way to the United States, Amina stated that visa issuance is a government obligation and that the document must go through a rigorous process before it is issued.
“I have been in contact with Omanyala. I was on the phone with him the whole of yesterday. He will be on a flight at 6 pm. We have also secured a second visa for him to travel to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games,” Amina said.
A similar issue plagued the country during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. In the Rio de Janeiro affair, government employees stole plane tickets and sold them to non-athletes, forcing them to find other ways to go to the Brazilian city.