What awaits new Sports Cabinet Secretary nominee, Kipchumba Murkomen

President William Ruto on Wednesday nominated Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen as the new Sports Cabinet Secretary. Should he be approved by Parliament, Murkomen will take over the mantle from Ababu Namwwamba who held the position before the disbandment of the Cabinet.

Prior to being named as the new Sports Cabinet nominee, Murkomen held the lucrative Roads and Transport docket, which has since been handed over to Davis Chirchir.

However, at Talanta Plaza, the seat of the Sports Ministry, Kipchumba has his in-tray full.

His coming to the docket coincides with the 2024 Paris Olympic Games which gets underway in France on Thursday. He will be keen to see to it that Team Kenya stages a successful outing in quest of medals, devoid of scandals.

Just before Ababu left the Sports docket, he had come under intense scrutiny to make public the list of  on-essential staff travelling to the Games.

This was informed by the Rio 2016 scandal that saw the Sports Ministry carry non-essential staff to the Games earning the moniker ‘joyriders’. Then then Sports Cabinet Secretary Dr. Hassan Wario as well as Team Kenya officials were subsequently prosecuted for abuse of office.

Equally, Murkomen has a Herculean task of ensuring the long overdue FKF elections that have been derailed by court cases are finally held.  On this he will have to find a common ground, guided by the existing laws, including engaging the world goofball governing body Fifa, to end the impasse.

Kenya, alongside her neighbours Uganda and Tanzanian are also primed to jointly host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and on this he has to ensure that the stadia, earmarked to host the competition, the MISC Kasarani and the Talanta Sports City, are ready on time.

The doping menace continues to be a cancer threatening to wipe the gains Kenya made in the past and he must devise ways of confronting the monster.

The Sports docket is ill-funded and he will need to lobby for better allocation in the 2025/2026 financial year.

More than 12 years since the enactment of the Sports Act 2023, sports federations are yet to  fully comply with the law and this will be another top agenda for Murkomen upon approval by Parliament.