CS Matiangi felt ashamed after Kenya Prisons farce

Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi has said the Kenya Prisons women’s volleyball team suffered humiliation in Cairo because of a planning problem and said he felt ‘ashamed’ by the shambles.

It was the first time the CS was commenting on the issue after the government ordered the repatriation of the Prisons team from the Egyptian capital where they were participating in the 2019 African Women’s Club Volleyball Championship.

The Principal Secretary State Department for Correctional Services, Zeinab Hussein, had in a statement accused the team of sneaking out of the country but Matiangi seemed to absolve the team of any fault.

“I was very angry when the PS (Hussein) called me and told me that our ambassador in Egypt says our team is holed up somewhere.

“I felt like an irresponsible parent and that’s very bad. I don’t like feeling irresponsible; people looking at me and wondering how a team can be in Cairo and I’m not aware.

“Throughout that week I walked around in town with a lot of shame because people were thinking I’m a very irresponsible Minister,” Matiangi said.

He was speaking during the flagging off ceremony of the Prisons men’s team ahead of the Africa volleyball club championship that will serve off on April 1-10 in Cairo.

The CS announced the government will double the budgetary allocations for the team as well as for national teams across the country.

“We will give them a cheque that they have never seen since Independence. We will look through allocations and immediately double the money that we put in sports. I don’t want our sports people to be stressed again,” Matiangi said.