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Finally a new era for Kenya

Black Thunder

School Boy/Girl Captain
Kenyan Government Suspends Board

Kenya's Clean Sweep

well it's finally happened and the Kenyan Cricket Association has been made accountable for the complete debacle that has happened over there, with the country going in a similar direction to Zimbawean Cricket.

Kenya's plight was not through any indication of racism, however it was just through sheer ineptitude (sp??) of the people running the show. No money to pay players, no money to set up any sort of basic national competion, no money to put into underrage developement. This despite the fact Kenya co-hosted the 2002/03 World Cup, the 2000 ICC Trophy and reach the Semi-Finals of the 2003 WC (surely there would've been some prizemoney for that and some sponsorship deals).

It all came to loggerheads about 3 months ago when leading players abandoned the country to play overseas cause they simply couldn't support themselves and play cricket in Kenya.

With a bit of luck this will see the ICC grant some money into the organisation, get a few of their big names back and set up some sort of FC system because this was a country that had some form of potential about it but now has nothing.
 
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Black Thunder

School Boy/Girl Captain
Interim executive appointed to run cricket
Kenyan government suspends board
Martin Williamson
January 14, 2005


Ochillo Ayacko, Kenya's minister of sports, has disbanded the Kenyan Cricket Association, claiming that it is blighted by mismanagement, and appointed an interim committee to run the game until a new constitution can be agreed. It is expected that this will be ready by April 15.

The KCA has been embroiled in a bitter fight with many of Kenyan cricket's stakeholders for the last couple of years, and it seems that Ayacko's patience with the existing board's conduct has finally snapped.

"The KCA purports to officially promote the sport of cricket and receives a lot of financial support," Ayacko said. "It has been doing so without an elected office since 1997 and cannot account for huge sums of monies."

Sammy Obingo, the KCA's general manager, is leading an ICC-prompted review of a constitution which has been at the root of many of the issues. But one source said that Ayacko's patience had run out and that he had decided that now was the time to act.

The news leaves Sharad Ghai, the KCA's embattled chairman, out in the cold, but few expect him to take the situation lying down. In May 2002 Francis Nyenze, Ayacko's predecessor, disbanded the KCA executive committee citing financial mismanagement, and replaced it with a caretaker committee. On that occasion the KCA went to court and got the decision overturned. It is more than likely that Ghai will consider similar action this time.

One thing Ghai might find especially unpalatable is that the interim committee includes Samir Imandir, the head of the Coast Cricket Association, and Salim Dhanji, who runs the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association. Both associations have been at loggerheads with the KCA, and the board's expulsion of the NPCA triggered the current crisis. Of the existing board, only Obingo is included in the interim executive. Tom Tikolo, a former national player and coach, is also included.

It has also emerged that three members of the KCA executive resigned over Christmas, leaving Ghai increasingly isolated.

"We have been waiting for seven years," said one delighted senior administrator of the developments. "This is the beginning of the end."

Obingo, who was appointed as the KCA's general manager in May, defended his inclusion on the committee. "The secretariat will continue to run," he told reporters. "I have contract, I am not in an elective office. So I am like a civil servant. If a government is overthrown, as a civil, servant, you do not run away."


Interim Committee Isaac Kalua (chairman, Kenyan National Sports Council), Sammy Obingo (KCA general manager) Salim Dhanji, Samir Inamdar, Tom Tikolo, Khoda Premji, Gopal Patel, Trilok Varia, Joshua Kiragu, Prof Saeed R Samnakay and Emmanuel Oduor.

© Cricinfo
 

Black Thunder

School Boy/Girl Captain
Minsiters decision should herald a new beginning
Kenya's clean sweep

Martin Williamson
January 14, 2005


Today's news that Ochillo Ayacko, Kenya's minister of sports, had dissolved the Kenyan Cricket Association came as a major surprise even to those who have been battling the KCA for years. It was known that there were manoeuvrings behind the scenes, but the timing of the announcement was wholly unexpected.

In recent months the KCA has looked increasingly isolated. It has weathered a storm of criticism, both from inside Kenya and internationally, for some time, but its decision to suspend the powerful Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association in 2002 really escalated the crisis which has left the KCA financially and morally bankrupt.

Of late, it was struggling on despite opposition from almost the entire cricket community inside the country. It was reliant on a constitution that gave enough votes to mysterious provincial associations while denying the vast majority of clubs any voice. As Ayacko pointed out, it hasn't had any elections since 1997.

Ayacko also hinted at what many have suspected for years, that the KCA's accounts are a mess, when he said that it "cannot account for huge sums of monies." Critics have repeatedly demanded to know what happened to millions earned from tournaments such as the LG Trophy in 1999, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000 and the World Cup in 2003, all of which were at least partially hosted in Kenya. Satisfactory answers have never been forthcoming.

In April, the government made it clear to the ICC that it was deeply unhappy with the way the KCA was being run, and while the ICC could not under its own rules get directly involved, it is thought it began to take a closer look at the way its grants and payments were being used. It stepped in to stop money which was intended for development being used to pay salaries, as well as demanding a constitutional review, and made it publicly clear that the KCA had to get its house in order.

Signs that things were getting worse came with the strike of many leading African players in October, caused almost entirely because of anger at their treatment by the KCA. As the year ended it became increasingly clear that the situation was coming to a head. Debtors piled up and discontent escalated. And on the field, the side was clearly in serious decline.

As the net closed, attempts were made to quell discontent with talk of one-day tournaments and multi-million pound sponsorships from unidentified foreign sources. Cricinfo's investigations failed to unearth any evidence to support these claims.

The failing health of Sharad Ghai, the man who has effectively run the KCA for several years, probably escalated the government's action, and there are signs that many within the KCA saw the writing on the wall. Three members of the executive committee resigned in December, and some remaining officials began to make overtures to the disenfranchised.

The KCA survived a similar move by the government in 2002, using the courts to rule the action illegal, and the board's opponents are not celebrating too enthusiastically quite yet. There remains a real possibility that the rump of the executive might try to use the law again, but two and a bit years on, their position looks considerably weaker.

The interim committee appointed by the government will sit until April when the new constitution should be ready for approval. The signs are that this will empower the stakeholders and in so doing ensure that the KCA, or whatever body replaces it, cannot in the future be run by factions so at odds with the rank and file.

It is also to be hoped that the KCA's sizable debts and tarnished reputation – the reasons that sponsors have been impossible to attract despite success in the 2003 World Cup – will be wiped clean and the new body can start afresh. It will be interesting to see what emerges about the way the whole organisation has been run in the coming months.

It is too early to count chickens, but this could be the day that Kenyan cricket was reborn. It's been a long time coming and there is considerable ground to make up. Nevertheless, it's the first step forward in quite some time.

© Cricinfo
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
Black Thunder said:
It is too early to count chickens, but this could be the day that Kenyan cricket was reborn.
Lets hope so. They way they have been treated by the ICC (in comparison with the previously inferior Bangladesh) is nothing short of a farce.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
a massive zebra said:
Lets hope so. They way they have been treated by the ICC (in comparison with the previously inferior Bangladesh) is nothing short of a farce.
Yeh, part and parcel of being in Africa that..

Where was the racism? Was it by the Asians towards the black Africans or vice versa?
 

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