Extravagant Kenyan MPs ‘spoil’ themselves Down Under
As the curtains come down on the Commonwealth Games, a bunch of Kenyan lawmakers attending the games will be facing scrutiny over their ‘benchmarking’ in Gold Coast.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Achesa and his Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia led the Kenyan contingent in Gold Coast of about a dozen parliamentarians drawn from both the Senate and National Assembly.
Their mission at the Club Games, which concludes on Sunday includes among other things, was cheering on Kenyan athletes and scouting for avenues of improving the Sports industry back home.
But according to Nation Media Group’s Sports Editor Elias Makori, who is covering the Games, some of these dignitaries have shown no interest in the performances of the Kenyan athletes.
Instead, they’ve been having a time of their lives, site seeing, sampling Australian beer and splashing cash in endless shopping sprees.
“I emphasise that some of them are just here to benchmark on how much shopping they can do here. They are really doing nothing. Just shopping and going out to enjoy a few drinks,” Makori said on Saturday during a televised interview with NTV’s Top Sport.
TOURING MPs
Writing for his Notebook column in the Daily Nation earlier in the week, Makori complained about the indifference of the touring Kenyan legislators.
“They (Kenyan MPs) were to visit all venues, cheer all the athletes and also visit various sports officials in Gold Coast, ready to implement various sports development programmes, including construction of modern stadiums in their counties. They were to also seek funding from the Australian government to develop Kenyan sport. Well, the only worry is they haven’t done any of the above, so far…,” Makori wrote.
According to Makori, the only exception is Webuye West MP, Dan Wanyama, who happens to be a former Kenya international volleyball player.
“I just had a chat with him (Wanyama) and he is very passionate (about sports). We know the biggest problem with Kenyan sports is funding and he is keen to solve that,” Makori said during the interview with NTV’s Top Sport.
That notwithstanding, Team Kenya has posted fair results Down Under with a total of 17 medals (4 gold, 7 silver, 6 bronze) by close of business on Saturday.