Sammy Kitula
2 September 2008
Nairobi — In less than a month, Athletics Kenya (AK) will have new officials right from the district to the national level.
Speaking on Tuesday during a press briefing, outgoing chairman, Isaiah Kiplagat, said that all district elections will be held on September 27, with the provincial ones slated for October 4, before the nationals on October 9.
"After such a successful calendar that was capped by exemplary results in the Olympics in Beijing, we couldn't have found a better time to hold the elections," he said.
The chairman, who was non-committal on his bid to seek another term (Kiplagat has been AK chairman since 1996), said that only bona fide members would take part in the elections to be conducted through a delegate system.
Three delegates will represent the gazetted districts at the provincial level, after which 24 others, three each from the eight provinces will take part at the national elections.
"We will only have bona fide members take part in the exercise and only the duly gazetted districts will participate," Kiplagat said.
The deadline for handing in nomination papers for the national office is October 6, while member registration for the whole exercise was officially closed yesterday.
The new office will only have three days to settle before the national youth team leaves for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India to take place between October 12 to 18.
The office will also be mandated to prepare teams for next year's World cross-country to be held, for the first time, in the Arab world as well as the World Championships to be held in August 15 to 23, 2009 in Berlin, Germany.
But perhaps the daunting task of the office bearers would to organise the 2010 Africa Athletics Championships to he held in Kenya.
With memories of a successful World Cross Country Championship in Mombasa last year still fresh in Kenyan minds, Athletics Kenya's organisation skills will yet again be put to test when they host the 17th edition of the Africa Championship.
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