Was it officially sanctioned? Enigma at National Paralympics Committee as warring factions halt trials

A tag of war between two contingents claiming authority at the National Paralympics Committee on Tuesday called off trials for the national team, gearing up for the Africa Paralympics at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani.

The trials were temporary stopped following a court order terming the event illegal and unsanctioned.

While the president of the National Paralympics Committee Agnes Oluoch maintained that the event was well in order, another group of a five unnamed people reported to have been appointed by the Sports Tribunal of Kenya to run the team’s activities says the event was unsanctioned.

“This event is an illegal gathering, and it is not supposed to be happening today at this ground”, part of the order read.

However, speaking at the event, legislators David Sankok and Dennitah Ghati said the ongoing fights within the federation and the tribunal should be solved to allow the team travel to Marrakech where they are expected to represent the country for the continental

“The people appointed by the tribunal to run this team are there illegally, and I want to ask them to stop what they are doing because they are not our members,” said Sankok.

The nominated legislator added he was working on a bill that would see 15% of the Sports Ministry budget go to the federation.

On her side, Oluoch says they will go on with their preparations and they hope to travel to Morocco on Thursday freezing of their accounts notwithstanding.

“Our accounts were frozen by the tribunal, being here we mobilized for funds to carry on with the preparations so they should just let us do our work,” charged Oluoch.

She added that the case is as a result of ‘outside’ forces that were being used to bring her team down.

‘We are ready to help and support this team just like any other, but these wrangles should stop to make our work easier,” said Kassim Farrah, Secretary Administration at the Ministry.

With the lingering conundrum, it remains unclear if the team will jet out the country on Thursday as initially planned.

The Ministry of Sports has expressed disappointment with the ongoing wrangles saying it should be sorted out of court.

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