{"id":685715,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/685715/?format=json","text_counter":348,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Okoth","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":12482,"legal_name":"Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth","slug":"kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"},"content":"As I make my remarks and reflections on the Olympics, I want to say a big thank you to the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). Hon. Lagat has just explained to us how he participated in the Sidney Olympics. He has talked about runners who won medals because they were students on scholarship in the US, as well as getting their running training. There was a time before that when sports in this country was supported by corporations like Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, Kenya Commercial Bank and National Bank. When we think about sports like basketball, we have to look at the role of the private sector and corporates. Which of them can participate and help to create and nurture the next generation of talents? Recently, there was a big brouhaha in this House about betting and that Kenyan companies such as Sportspesa had billions of shillings to invest in teams such as Hull City and Southampton in the English Premier League. You ask yourself: What would Kshs6 billion of investment of charity money and donations from charity sweepstakes and the gambling sector in Kenya do for what we need to develop our sports? I think we need to look at the corporate sector, charity sweepstakes and gambling and betting and ensure that they are run in a manner that proceeds are ploughed back into charities within the country and programmes of social benefit, including the performing arts, hospitals for the poor and schools for everybody, not just profit- making for the sake of profit-making in ways that do not make a difference. Last but not least, there is corruption in the way the National Olympic Committee of Kenya conducts its work. That has been lamented and I want to add onto it on record that it is time for people like Kipchoge Keino – a real legend – to step aside and say their season of excellence on the track and their season of mentorship and sports ambassadorship are gone. Let a new generation of people rise and take leadership. I encourage the President who had some tough words about this team that went to the Olympics and mismanaged the opportunities there and the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, let us see them engaging and persuading. If we could ask members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to go home and they have agreed, I think it is time to say even NOCK must go home. Let us get new people who have fresh ideas and who can think as we prepare for Tokyo 2020, not just on the budget for that year’s Olympics, but a budget that must be done every year for our sports academies. A team like Great Britain is already pumping Kshs300 million every year in the plan for the next Olympics."}