DAY 2
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed unveiled the much-awaited report on sexual and emotional abuse in Kenyan sports at Diana Beach Hotel in Kwale County in the Kenyan coast.
Presenting the finding of the study, Gerry Kweya, committee member in charge of research revealed shocking findings of sexual and emotional abuse with Kenyan sports. The report commissioned by Kenya’s Ministry of Sports and Culture, Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, sought to uncover the level of abuse within Kenyan sports.
The committee, chaired by Catherine Ndereba, one of Kenya’s greatest athletes, started work on July 10, 2021, with a mandate to report back in 30 days, but the investigations inexplicably continued for 6 months and were renamed in honor of Agnes Tirop, a Kenyan long-distance track star who was fatally stabbed multiple times in a domestic violence incident that shocked the country.
Mohamed instituted the Committee after an incident where female youth national coach, Philip Onyango Ombajo, popularly known as Onyango, was accused of attempted rape after he lured a female basketball player to a Nairobi hotel room, and allegedly demanded to have sex with her in exchange for recruiting her in the Kenya Ports Authority team.
After the incident, several women came forward accusing Onyango of sexually abusing them. Some alleged, Onyango, who hosted female athletes in his home in Mombasa, regularly solicited them for sexual favors and demanded a share of the money given to them in allowances during sporting trips.
It’s unclear whether any action will be taken against individuals found to have participated in sexual offenses.
The report will form a basis for the discussions on the way forward.
Agnes Tirop Conference is scheduled for Jan 17 to Jan 21st.
Ndereba gave an emotional panel contribution where he challenged the judiciary to do something about the sexual offenders.
“It’s my prayer that our beloved country, would land to a place, whereby we’ll be able to put all those criminals into account,” Ndereba said. “It’s too painful, way too painful when you see or hear somebody has done something that’s really immoral yet they walk freely in our country. Yet we say we have judiciary in our country.”
“It’s my prayer that our beloved country, would land to a place, whereby we’ll be able to put all those criminals into account,” Ndereba said. “It’s too painful, way too painful when you see or hear somebody has done something that’s really immoral yet they walk freely in our country. Yet we say we have judiciary in our country.”
Ndereba spoke while sitting in the same panel with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji.
Haji said Kenyans have no confidence in the system, including his office due to perception of corruption.
Click here to view the conference live.
Speaking in a panel, Kenya’s top marathon star Eliud Kipchoge described Kenyan society as rotten.
“Our society as Kenya is rotten, I’m sorry to use the word ‘rotten,'” Kichoge said. “But there is a lot of permissiveness in the whole country, there is no order at all. Parents have neglected their duties.”
Kipchoge said Kenyan sportsmen and women lack morals. He said 80 percent of Kenyan sportsmen and women lack morals. He said 80 percent of people around athletes are negative people.
“We need to instill the right character for our sportsmen and women,” Kipchoge said.
