” WE ARE READY TO FUND-RAISE AND REPAY THE MONEY MISAPPROPRIATED BY KIPCHOGE KEINO,” A SECTION OF MP’S CLAIM.

 

Image result for kipchoge keino

Soy MP Caleb Kositany wants the government to drop the financial irregularity charges against former National Olympic Committee chairman Kipchoge Keino. Reason? Because he is a legend, he says.

Mr Kositany spoke at Parliament Buildings in the company of his colleague from Turkana Central, John Lodepe.

Related image

Mr Kositany said that he was ready to organize a fundraiser to pay the government the amount Mr Keino, a retired track and field athlete, is accused of misappropriating so that he can be left free.

Mr Keino, former Sports CS Hassan Wario, his then PS Richard Ekai among others have been accused of misappropriating Sh55 million during the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Image result for HASSAN WARIO

Keino was also set to take plea Monday but did not appear in court. The court was told that he is out of the country. He has been ordered to present himself before DCI on Thursday morning alongside the former CS.

The two-time Olympic champion and honorary member of the International Olympic Committee is accused of playing a role in the misuse of money meant for Kenyan athletes at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, when he was chairman of the Kenyan Olympic committee.

Related image

The money was part of more than $5 million given to Keino’s Olympic committee by the Kenyan government to fund Team Kenya in Rio.But prosecutors allege Keino was at the head of an Olympic committee rife with corruption.

The 78-year-old Keino was one of seven former Olympic and government officials named as suspects in the investigation. Two other high-ranking former Kenyan Olympic committee officials were named, as was the former Kenyan minister of sport, Hassan Wario, and three ministry officials who worked under him.

Related image

The seven are all accused of embezzling more than $200,000, wasting more than $150,000 on unused air tickets to Rio, overpaying allowances amounting to nearly $150,000 and incurring tens of thousands of dollars of other expenditure on “unauthorized persons.”

Director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji said the directorate of criminal investigations (DCI), a special crimes unit, had been investigating since late 2016. After nearly two years, Haji said he was “satisfied that there is sufficient evidence” to now charge the seven with multiple counts of corruption and abuse of office.

Saturday’s announcement implicated one of Kenya’s most revered runners.

Related image

Keino’s gold in the 1,500 meters at the 1968 Mexico Olympics — 50 years ago now — paved the way for decades of dominance by Kenyan distance runners. He was named in track and field’s international hall of fame in its inaugural year in 2012 alongside the likes of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Sebastian Coe, the current president of the IAAF.

Keino was also honored at the opening ceremony at the 2016 Rio Games, the first recipient of the Olympic Laurel award for service to the Olympic movement.

Image result for kipchoge keino

In August, Kenyan athletics federation secretary general and IAAF Council member David Okeyo was banned for life by world track and field body the IAAF for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars of sponsorship money paid to his federation by Nike.Public prosecutor Haji said he had also ordered further investigations into the Olympic committee’s use of its Nike sponsorship money.

Keino put Kenya on the world map and inspired generations after bagging a number of medals in the formative stages of the Olympics. The MP’s want to help carry Keino’s Cross.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *