NAIROBI, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's national Olympic body has pledged to turn around the association into a model sports body.
Paul Tergat, president of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK), said that the new team that was elected into office in September last year inherited a financially insolvent office whose reputation in terms of institutional integrity was in an all-time low, with stakeholders already either withdrawn or threatened to pull out any ongoing and future support.
"We began one year ago with the singular, but firm purpose and resolve to restore and rebuild the image, capacity and resilience of NOCK to become a model sports body in Kenya and globally," Tergat said on Wednesday evening during the organization's annual general meeting.
"The association has slowly but surely reclaimed its position as the institution mandated to champion the Olympic movement ideals and serve the Kenyan athlete from all sports," the former world marathon record holder remarked.
The 49-year-old Tergat said he will revive and renew the organization which was scandal-hit and rocked by corruption and mismanagement that saw the International Olympic Committee (IOC) freeze funding to its local affiliate.
Tergat said that despite the challenges, the executive took office with passion, and appreciated that the job at hand did not afford them any learning curve luxury.
"There were major assignments coming up in the pipeline such as the Commonwealth Games in Australia a few months away, and in between the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea," he noted.
Francis Mutuku, NOCK secretary general, said the last one year has been a period of fast learning and appreciating the position in which the organization had been in the past few years, adding that a lot of catch-up has been done from meetings with local and international partners.
"We are poised to take critical and rightful role of leading sports to the next level, during which we shall keep the athlete at the center of all our programs, engagements and activities," Mutuku said.
He said NOCK shall expend the space of operations to accommodate all people of goodwill who will be eager and excited to contribute to the Olympic Movement in Kenya.
