New Sports CS Murkomen faces stacked in-tray

Newly appointed Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy Kipchumba Murkomen walks into an office with an in-tray piled to the brim with issues related to poor management of sports federations, pending bills, inadequate functioning infrastructure and an opaque road map of diversifying sports that has denied young people the chance of realising their potential after leaving school.

Murkomen must find a lasting solution to wrangles, limit involvement of the courts in sports disputes, fight corruption, force federations to respect their constitutions, and review the Sports Act 2013.

He has the opportunity to clean sport and embark on a revival crusade with the help of the government and Parliament where he should only be summoned for appraisal and not answer questions from complaints raised by the public and the August House like was the case with his predecessor Ababu Namwamba. 

His appointment comes at a time Kenyans are raising concern over the performance of Team Kenya at the Paris Olympics.

Rugby, volleyball, judo, swimming and fencing teams were eliminated in the preliminary rounds while athletics appears to be wobbling.

Murkomen can, between now and 2027, create a vibrant sports industry that will see more and better representation of the country at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Many federations are facing legal challenges, others are moribund while most are cash strapped. 

But none have elicited more national attention than football and athletics from their long running court cases that have delayed their elections.

AK last held its elections in 2013.

The High Court on March 7 quashed the AK 2016 constitutional changes adopted during the federation's Annual General Meeting of April 27, 2016 which were challenged by former World Half Marathon champion Moses Tanui and Julius Korir amongst others. AK was attempting to bring their constitution in harmony with the Sports Act 2013.