Axe Sports Minister Echesa, MP Nguna appeals to Uhuru

Mwingi West Member of Parliament Charles Ngusya Nguna has appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to axe Rashid Echesa as Sports Cabinet Secretary.

According to the legislator, the position should be occupied by a sportsman, and one who is passionate about sports.

In a wide ranging interview with Citizen Digital, Nguna who is also a member of the House Sports Committee said:  “We need a sports person in that ministry; we need a passionate person who can source for funds, a person who can travel with the teams like Harambee Stars …”

According to Ngusya, the President should reshuffle his cabinet and appoint a young person to the post.

Ngusya also said that his committee will soon hold a meeting with the national football team, Harambee Stars, to get a proper understanding on issues surrounding the team as they gear for the 2019 African Cup of Nations finals set for Egypt from June.

The legislator is also proposing to have a doping camp built in Africa to aid in testing.

In August last year, the Athletics Integrity Unit and LANCET Group of Labs announced that it was setting up a WADA approved doping lab in Nairobi.

This was after a nine-month project initiated and funded by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), with support from the International Athletics Foundation, the LANCET Group of Labs East Africa (operating as Pathologists Lancet Kenya) successfully applied for its Nairobi laboratory to become a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-approved laboratory for Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) blood analysis.

Kenya has had some of its top athletes banned from international IAAF competitions due to doping.

On gaming, the parliamentarian wants the tax charged on betting companies reduced to 15  percent saying the current 30  percent is too high.

Report by David Kariuki