Once upon a time, long before the
Kenya Television Networks Channel 2 went live, if you wanted anything,
you had to be a member of the ruling party KANU. If you wanted a
promotion at work, you had to be a member. If you wanted a transfer to a
new job, you had to be a member. If you wanted a loan, you had to be a
member. In the words of the Nyayo Philosophy's truest sycophants, JJ
Kamotho and Sharif Nassir, KANU was "baba na mama." And KANU became the only way for dedicated party apparatchiks to be rewarded.
The
system of patronage that KANU established has survived the NARC
revolution, the PEV and Kenya's second Constitution. You can see the
deleterious effects of KANUism by the sclerosis that afflicts sports
administration, especially now that the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA,
has trained its eyes on Kenya's feeble shows of anti-doping measures.
More and more stories are emerging of Kenyan athletes failing doping
tests, in and out of competition.
This
should not come as a surprise, really. KANU-ism established a system of
graft in all walks of life that it is surprising that Kenyans haven't
found a way of extorting foetuses before they are born for the privilege
of breathing free Kenyan air! State agencies became fiefdoms because of
the system KANU built. Once you were appointed to a cushy job in a
state agency, it was more or less understood to be a job for life. This
appointment became the basis for great perfidy if one lost their way or
got greedy. Athletics Kenya, AK, the body responsible for overseeing
athletes and athletic competition in Kenya, has not been immune from
this.
AK
is one of the last dinosaurs from the KANU era and in the recent
revelations about bribery and doping, it seems quite true to type. AK
and, by extension, the Government of Kenya, have had years to establish
an anti-doping regime but they did not move with alacrity until WADA
threatened to blacklist Kenya and Kenyan athletes from global
competition. One of the reasons Kenya was so sanguine about anti-doping
measure is the seemingly set-in-stone nature of AK management; the
current chairman has been in office since 1992. In his heydays he was a
formidable long distance runner. Today, he presides over a system that
is in dire need of a total overhaul.
Kenyans
have lived long under the illusion that its truest exemplars of
integrity are the men and women who dominate, at the global level, in
the middle-distance, long-distance and marathon races. A common joke is
that when competitors get to the starting line and see a Kenyan, they
start praying that he won't beat them so badly that their nation will
start looking for a new runner. That cozy illusion is being threatened
by the drip-drip-drip of doping stories from inside and outside Riadha House,
AK's headquarters, and Kenya's pussy-footing with WADA over its
unconvincing anti-doping arrangements. If Kenyans lose their last true
heroes, I don't know where we will turn to next for integrity and the
value of hard work.
AK
and similar sports' dinosaurs must realise that it is no longer the
KANU way of doing business any more. It is a harsh new dawn.
Transparency, accountability, good governance, integrity and human
dignity are now constitutional requirements for all Kenyans, including
sports administrators. KANU-ism may still enamour some lost souls, but
Kenyans have resoundingly adopted a new code and it is not KANU-ism. The
KANU-ists in the system must shape up or ship out, previous valiant
service notwithstanding. KANU is no longer baba na mama.
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