Athletics legends pace Amina’s big WTO race

Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Heritage and Culture Amina Mohamed (right) shares a word with Kenyan athletics legend Kipchoge Keino during the launch of the Kip Keino Classic on September 21, 2020 at Riadha House in Nairobi.

Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Unconfirmed reports indicate that President Uhuru Kenyatta could travel to Europe in the coming week to help drum-up support for Amina
  • Legendary 1968 Olympic 1,500 metres champion Kipchoge Keino said, just like his own triumph at the Mexico Games, Amina has overcome adversity
  • National Olympic Committee of Kenya President Paul Tergat praised Amina for changing needs of institutions under her mandate


With the race in Geneva down to the wire, Kenya’s athletics legends have drummed up support for Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed’s bid for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general’s position.

Amina is among five candidates in the running for the top seat in the global trade body which has been vacated by Roberto Azevedo who stepped down prematurely.

No woman and no African has held the prestigious seat, and, now, there are three women in the list of five candidates still in the running.

There have been calls for an African to finally get a shot at running the organisation, which since its creation in 1995 has counted three director-generals from Europe, and one each from Oceania, Asia and South America.

Other candidates

Besides Amina, the other women candidates are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, and Yoo Myung-hee of South Korea.

They are in the running alongside Liam Fox of Britain and Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri of Saudi Arabia.

This is after other candidates with the least support — Jesus Saede Kuri (Mexico), Tudor Ulianovschi (Moldova) and Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh (Egypt) — were eliminated.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that President Uhuru Kenyatta could travel to Europe in the coming week to help drum-up support for Amina.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) chats with Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed during the officially reopening of the refurbished Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on September 26, 2020.

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

And on Saturday, Kenya’s top athletics guns, led by Olympic trail-blazer Kipchoge Keino and the current world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, voiced their support for Amina’s candidature.

“Amina Mohamed has demonstrated that she has the power to excel even in the toughest conditions. I see in her the rare trait of exceptional endurance only exhibited by people with outstanding mental and physical stamina, the kind of people who break records in the most unlikely situations,” Eliud Kipchoge said in his message.

“She is a kindred limitless spirit akin to the one that propelled me to venture into the world of invisible limits to set the unthinkable sub-2 marathon record broadening the sphere of long-distance running to new levels, now within human-reach.

“We may not know where the limits in the multilateral trading system are, but Minister Amina is willing to find them and help you, the Membership, conquer them.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed with marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge in Kaptagat.

Photo credit: Pool

It takes a champion to recognise another. I believe that Amina Mohamed is the best person suited to lead the World Trade Organisation at this time. I am running with Amina! Go champion go!” Kipchoge added.

Overcome adversity

Legendary 1968 Olympic 1,500 metres champion Kipchoge Keino said, just like his own triumph at the Mexico Games, Amina has overcome adversity.

“She understands the issues facing the system more than anyone else and has the integrity, track-record and unmatched professional, political and managerial competence to set never before witnessed trade consensus records,”Keino said.

National Olympic Committee of Kenya President Paul Tergat praised Amina for changing needs of institutions under her mandate.

“She approaches leadership with the mind of a long-distance runner, consistently and with great adaptability to the changing terrain. She is a master of delivering results in record time,” Tergat said.

National Olympics Committee-Kenya (NOCK) President Paul Tergat address delegates during a pre-Olympic camp signing ceremony between NOC-K and Japan's Kurume city at Radisson Blu hotel in Nairobi on February 13, 2020.

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

Others who rallied behind Amina on Saturday were former world marathon record holders Tegla Loroupe and Catherine Ndereba, along with 800 metres world record holder David Rudisha.

“With immense opportunities at her disposal, she has chosen to lead the World Trade Organisation to a new level where the expectations of all members are equally met and surpassed,” Rudisha said.

“Her vision weaves inclusiveness into the international trade regime uplifting the economic status of all members and the livelihoods of billions of people all over the world.”

Ndereba said Amina has been a living hero and mentor. 

“I admire, value and recognise the spirit that guides her. It is the same spirit that I have seen in the most empowering and uplifting leaders,” Ndereba of the Kenya Prisons Service said.

Amina, 58, ran for the WTO leadership in 2013 and her vision this time is "reform, recovery, renewal.”

Additional reporting from AFP