Wario downplays messing Team Kenya accommodation in Rio

The Ministry of Sports Arts and Culture led by its Cabinet Secretary, Hassan Wario, has dismissed allegations that the Ministry played a part in the accommodation and accreditation processes of Team Kenya during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Appearing before the Labor and Social Welfare committee of the senate on Thursday morning, Wario admitted that the Ministry transferred Ksh 29 million shillings to the National Olympics Committee-Kenya (NOCK) account that was intended to cater for their accommodation on June 17, last year although they had no links with the said amount’s withdrawal.

When asked to clarify why a total of Ksh2.1 million in accommodation fees was spent to book a room aboard a cruise ship in Rio for President Uhuru Kenyatta, Wario referred the committee to his Permanent Secretary (PS) Richard Ekai.

“The Ministry released the money for accommodation in three batches. When we got to Rio we kept asking the Chef-de-Mission to show us where the cruise ship that we were told was meant to host the President and his Deputy was.

“It wasn’t what we expected; the rooms were duplex and very small. Each room could only host one person. The Deputy President, William Ruto, spent in a different hotel and I the invoices with me,” Ekai told the hearing.

“In this case, the President we’re referring to is the President of NOCK, Kipchoge Keino, and not the Republic of Kenya.”

Wario also assured the three-member Senate committee that his move to disband Nock was in the interest of the country and that there is little to worry as to whether his actions would attract a ban from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“I did the same with football and they have started putting their house in order. The same applies to NOCK; it’s a chance to right all the wrongs committed at the expense of our athletes,” Wario said.

He also promised that Kenya’s Paralympics team was not going to suffer a repeat of the shambles that their compatriots got caught up in.