Peter Ng'etich
6 October 2008
Nairobi — Former Steeple Chase champion Moses Kiptanui will still vie for the national Athletics Kenya chairmanship though he suffered a set back last week when he was defeated at the provincial level.
Kiptanui said the outgoing officials had steered the office with a lot of obscurity and the athletics fraternity will blame themselves if they are returned to office.
Speaking to the Nation on Monday, Kiptanui said the officials had put in structures to ensure that no one breaks into their niche.
There is a lot of suspicion on how they run office and that is why they protect their castle from the grassroot to the national level, he said.
Kiptanui said the current office does not treat athletes equally and it is an injustice he wanted to correct.
On Friday last week, Kiptanui with former Boston Marathon champion Moses Tanui, 3,000 world champion Daniel Komen stormed out of the elections at Kipchoge Stadium in which Ibrahim Hussein retained his North Rift seat saying it was a sham.
Some of the aspirants including Komen had his name missing in the register which surprised many athletes who were eying AK seats.
Most of them have now been locked at their district level an action which the athletes have called on Sports minister Hellen Sambili to intervene saying the sport was heading to a doom.
Kiptanui said he could not seek a court redress claiming the current officials compromised the judiciary in a case in which the late athlete Luca Sang had instituted in court.
AK ended up winning the case and it would be a waste of time and resources if we move to court again.
But if the government wants athletics to prosper it should intervene with President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga taking the lead, he said.
The national elections are slated for Thursday this week.
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