Tergat re-elected unopposed as Olympics Kenya boss

The status quo at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) was maintained with most of the incumbents retaining their seats. President Paul Tergat was re-elected unopposed, in the polls that were held on Thursday in Nairobi.

As at the time of closing down nominations, no one had presented a bid to unseat the legendary world cross country champion who was first elected in office in 2017.

“I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity to lead NOCK once again. We have done some good work over the past few years to bring change to sports, change that we really wanted. Now we have another mandate and we have to move with speed back to work,” Tergat said after his election.

He added; “We have a strategic plan in place for the next four years and as NOCK we want to ensure that we bring even more change and professionalism to all our sports.”

Others elected unopposed included athlete representatives Hellen Obiri and Humphrey Kayange. Kayange, a former Kenya Sevens captain was also appointed into the International Olympic Committee board.

Francis Mutuku has been confirmed as the new Secretary General

Meanwhile, Francis Mutuku retained his Secretary General seat, but now on a permanent. Mutuku was on acting capacity after being appointed by the NOCK board, following a corruption case against his predecessor FK Paul.

Paul Tergat was re-elected unopposed, he was asked to step aside as he battled a case in court over the Rio 2016 Games where mass amounts of money were misappropriated and once he was cleared, was allowed to contest the election.

However, he could not beat Mutuku who had done the job for the last three years and had already secured most of the votes. Mutuku managed to get 18 votes while Paul was a distant third with two votes.

Kenya Table Tennis Association Secretary General Andrew Mudibo who was aiming at the seat for a third time could only manage five votes. Former Deputy Secretary General James Chacha did not get a single vote.

At the same time, Kenya Judo Federation boss Shadrack Maluki retained his seat as first vice president after earning 18 votes.

He waded off competition from Kenya Rugby Union’s John Kilonzo who could only get five votes while retired Army Colonel Nashon Randiek, the boss of the Kenya Hockey Union managed four votes.

Kenya Volleyball Federation boss Waithaka Kioni, who was Kenya’s Chief de Mission at the Tokyo Olympic Games also retained his seat as second vice president after edging out Tegla Lorupe. Kioni polled 22 votes against the former Marathon queen’s five.

The National Olympic Committee of Kenya board

Another landslide winner from the polls was incumbent treasurer Eliud Kiariuki who managed 20 votes against his closest competitor Moses Mbuthia from the Kenya Volleyball Federation who only managed to convince seven people to vote for him.

John Ogola comes in as his deputy after he managed 22 votes, beating National Paralympic Committee boss Agnes Oluoch after she could only manage five votes.

Parvi Rawal defended her seat as the woman representative after amassing 14 votes against Mududa Waweru who had 11 votes.

There will be two new entrants into the Committee after Athletics Kenya Nairobi Chairman Barnaba Korir and Kenya Basketball Federation boss Paul Otula were elected in as Committee Members, joining Kenya Swimming Federation’s Winnie Kamau who retained her seat.

“I am really honored to be elected into the NOCK executive and it is such a huge privilege to bring in my expertise from athletics. Hopefully we can take the body forward in a better and bigger way,” said Korir upon his election.

Also, Read: Olympics Kenya boss Paul Tergat re-elected into IOC board