Hits and misses at Ababu’s Sh100m ‘Hongera Awards’

Quite a few people, perhaps, those within his circles, knew what was up the sleeves of flamboyant Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, the Arts and Sports, Ababu Namwamba.

Namwamba, jointly with selected sports federations, on Thursday invited the media to Friday’s inaugural Cabinet Secretary's Champions Reception (Hongera Awards) at the five-star Safari Park Hotel.

The reception celebrated and rewarded Kenya’s leading sporting and creative talents, with the historic event seeing the convergence of over 1,000 sportsmen and women as well as creatives, including Kenya’s most decorated living legends.

In the end, it was glitz and glamour as Namwamba, who dressed up to the occasion in a white, fitting suit and black bow tie, announced that they had spent close to Sh100 million to reward top performers on the night.

What were the hits and misses from Hongera Awards?

The gesture to honour Kenya’s leading sporting and creative talents, including legends in these fields, was quite commendable.

Over the decades, they have felt neglected despite having contributed immensely to the two industries.

Clearance of pending payments for medallists from Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Africa Championships dating back to 2010 as promised by Namwamba should be hastened and the new prize money reward structure unveiled.

When it comes to honouring legends, athletics and football will always curve a lion’s share, which was quite evident on the glittering night.

Already, the rewards have kicked off a discussion with questions on how the ministry settled on those that they rewarded in addition to the disparities in rewards between the legends and the rest.

The move by Namwamba to hand Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards a total of Sh10 million in view of helping them clear fines imposed by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) and world football governing body, Fifa, has also raised eyebrows.

Having Amos Biwott, who is regarded as the father of steeplechase by virtue of being the first Africa to win steeplechase at the Olympics during the 1968 Mexico City Games, and two of history-making 4x400m quartet from the 1972 Munich Olympic Games of Charles Asati and Hezekiah Nyamau, was simply amazing.

It was nostalgic having the father of marathon, Ibrahim Hussein of the Honolulu, New York and Boston Marathon Hall of Fame, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) President Paul Tergat and the 1998 Olympic 5,000 metres champion John Ngugi being recognised.  Tergat and Ngugi each won the world cross country title five times.

 Former rally driver Patrick Njiru, former national cricket team skipper Asim Karim and his colleagues from the history-making 2003 World Cup team of Kennedy Otieno, Maurice Odumbe and Martin Suji were in the midst.

Rugby legend Edward Rombo and former Kenya Sevens rugby captains Andrew Amonde and Humphrey Kayange were also honored. They were among 69 legends drawn from athletics, football, cricket, rugby, motor rallying, volleyball and paralympians to be honoured on the night with a token of Sh50,000.

Fresh from beating Tanzanian showman Karim “Mtu Kazi” Mandoga in their non-title heavyweight bout recently, Daniel Wanyonyi also was rewarded with Sh50,000.

Kenya tennis sensation Angela Okutoyi, who made history as the first Kenyan to win a tennis grand slam, and the 3,000m world steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech received cheques worth Sh1 million each in absentia for their exploits.

Commonwealth Games 800m champion Mary Moraa, World under-20 Championships 3,000m steeplechase champion Jackline Chepkoech and World Under-20 Championships’ 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi each got Sh500,000.

Some 42 rally drivers and their co-drivers who participated at Safari Rally and Kenya National rally Championship series received Sh100,000 each. The men’s and women’s teams that won the Roll Ball World Cup were rewarded with Sh7.5 million with each player receiving Sh300,000.

Namwamba set aside Sh9 million for the 18 teams that participated in Kenya Premier League with a similar amount going to the National Super League sides.

The winners of Division One that has two zones and top two performers in Division Two that has three zones will each receive Sh2.4 million. Will teams from other leagues that also faced sponsorship challenges like rugby, basketball etc also be considered for such funding?
Fines imposed on Gor Mahia and AFC are for their own making hence helping them out abets mismanagement.

However, Namwamba said that football was the most hit after Fifa banned the country in February last year, adding that “Rome was not built in a day” with reference to other leagues that did not benefit from the largesse.