Nyagarama snubs IAAF caravan

Nyamira County became the odd one out after her leadership failed to flag-off the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)  World Under-18 Championships caravan.

The world will witness the global event taking place at the Moi  Sports Centre Kasarani with  Athletes from  more than 138 countries in attendance.

The IAAF caravan has been traversing the whole country sensitizing and informing people to turn up in large number to watch the races. However things fell apart in Nyamira on Thursday after Governor Nyagarama  snubbed the event to attend a political meeting.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Nyamira County Minister for sports  Peter Omwansa however defended the move and said that they were not informed early on that program.

“I received a call from an IAAF  Official yesterday (July 6th), telling me they wanted the county government to flag-off the caravan.

“They  wanted us to be set in half an hour time, while we were in a meeting at  Gekano. It was  difficult for us to meet the timelines,” Omwansa said.

He added in as much as they can take the blame  being a political period the IAAF Officials could have notified them on time so that proper arrangements  could be put in place.

The caravan was  from the counties of Uasin Gishu, Nandi, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Homabay and Kisumu, the next stop after Nyamira being Kisii  County.

Nyamira is the home of veteran athletes including the late Naftali Temu who won Kenya’s first gold medal  in 1968 Olympics in Mexico, renown sprinters Charles Asati, Hezekia Nyamao and Mike Mokamba.

The county has been facing several sports challenges with many athletes blaming the current administration for neglecting the industry.

Recently, Mokamba challenged the county government to come out clear on the expenditure of resources given to promote upcoming sports talent.