Runners storm Athletics Kenya offices in graft protest

Over 60 Kenyan athletes yesterday stormed the offices of Athletics Kenya (AK) to demand officials accused of corruption be sacked and for doping allegations to be properly investigated

Nairobi: Over 60 Kenyan athletes yesterday stormed the offices of Athletics Kenya (AK) to demand officials accused of corruption be sacked and for doping allegations to be properly investigated.

Kenyan athletes hold placards during a protest in Nairobi yesterday. Pic/AFP 

The athletes, chanting and carrying placards, took over AK offices in Nairobi, barricading themselves inside shortly after dawn and before officials arrived for work. “We are not leaving this place until our grievances have been heard and addressed,” Julius Ndegwa, the organising secretary of the Professional Athletes Association of Kenya (PAAK) told reporters.

“We want to solve the long standing issues affecting us in regards to corruption, doping and other matters.”

A report in a British newspaper, The Sunday Times, last week suggested that AK vice president, David Okeyo, who is also Kenya’s IAAF council member, was among three Kenyan athletics officials who allegedly siphoned $700,000 from money paid to AK as part of a sponsorship deal. Okeyo, AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat and former treasurer Joseph Kinyua reportedly paid themselves from the federation’s bank account.

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