Journal of Educational Research and Development Vol. 4 No.1 - April, 2009

REVIEW OF MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND CHALLENGES INKENYA'S SPORTS AS A BASIS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

By

Andanje Mwisukha (PhD),Kenyatta University

&

Peter Mwangi Wanderi (PhD),Kenyatta University

Abstract

The history of Kenya's sports can be divided into three main phases; the pre-colonial, colonialand post-colonial phases. Each of these phases witnessed various levels and forms of sportsdevelopment in the country. With the increasing popularity of SPOltS over the years, deliberateefforts and strategies have continued to be made to improve SPOltS participation and performance.Whereas some milestones have been realized towards this end over the years, the sports scene isstill faced with a myriad of issues and challenges which militate against the desired aim ofachieving sports excellence in the country. This paper therefore, highlights the managementshortcomings and problems that should be addressed so as to serve as a basis for futuredevelopment of sports in the country.Key words: Management, sports, athlete(s).

Introduction: A Historical Overview ofSports in Kenya

(i) Sports During the Pre-Colonial PeriodIn Kenya, as indeed, in many other

countries of Africa and the rest of the world,sport is as old as mankind. It dates back tothe origin of man (Asembo,2003). Indeed,Njororai (2003) refers to the very old formsof sports as 'traditional sports and games'which were closely related to the activitiesthat man engaged in to avail food anddefend himself against aggressors. Thetraditional games and sports are highlightedas having included the following:

(a) Spear-throwing that was related tohunting and the need for defenceagainst hostile environment (Mazrui,1986).

(b) Running/racing, which was gearedtowards meeting the need for foodthrough hunting.

(c) Swimining which was learnt anddeveloped due to the need for fishingand communication across large riversand lakes.

(d) Wrestling was also widespread as a wayof identifying strong members whowould be relied upon to defend theircommunities.

(e) Singing and dancing were a commonphenomenon during planting,harvesting and initiation ceremonies.

(ii) Sports During the Colonial PeriodThe colonization of Kenya by the

British in 1895, declaration of the country asa colony of Britain in 1920 and theirsubsequent rule upto 1963 marked anothernew chapter for sports in Kenya. It wasduring that colonial rule that the modernforms of sports and games were introducedin the country while the traditional gamesand sports were discarded as beingprimitive. According to Wamukoya (1994),various games and sports that had beenpopularized in Europe (Britain, inparticular), North, America and Asia duringWorld War I and II were also transported toKenya. The key milestones that wererealized during this period were:

~i) Introduction of the modern sports inKenya, some of which were,

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unfortunately, played along raciallines. For instance, tennis, cricket,rugby and football were introducedby the British in the first part of 20th

Century, Basketball by Americanmissionaries in 1950s, and hockey bythe Sikhs and Goans iH the 1950s.According to Bhushan (1988), rugbyand tennis were games that werestrictly for 'whites only' and hockeywas a preserve for the KenyanIndians at that time.

(ii) Development of Physical Trainingcurriculum for schools that focusedon the teaching of the modern sports.

(iii) Introduction of competitive sports inthe 1950s. Competitions at school,community and international levelswere initiated.

(iv) Kenya made her debut at internationalcompetitions, particularly at theOlympics Games that were held in1956 in Melbourne, Australia. This,indeed, marked the beginning ofKenya's participation in the manyother international competitions.

(v) The 1950s also marked the foundingof several national sports associationsthat played a role in the managementand administration of sports in thecountry. They included KenyatAmateur Athletic Association in1950, Kenya Hockey Union in 1956,National Football Association in1956, Kenya Rugby Football Unionin 1921, and others.

(vi) Open spaces were set-aside in urbanand rural areas to accommodatesporting activities.

(iii) Sports in the Post-Colonial PeriodAs from the time Kenya attained

independence from the British colonial rulein 1963, the successive post-colonialgovernments have continued to embrace anddevelop sports. A number of measures andstrategies have been put in place to enhancethe management and administration ofsports in the country. The key milestones increating structures of sports managementinclude:(i) Establishment of the Kenya National

Sports Council in 1966 to coordinatethe activities of the national sportsfederations and also assist in the

preparation of national teams for theAll-Africa Games.

(ii) Creation of the department of sports inthe ministry in charge of sports in 1989as a government arm that overseessports programmes and activities in thecountry.

(iii) Establishment and operations of theNational Olympic committee - Kenyato facilitate Kenya's participation in theOlympic Games.

(iv) Establishment of national sportsfederations to coordinate and organizesporting activities in their respectivesports disciplines.

(v) Establishment of national sportsfederations for educational institutionalto oversee sports programmes in theinstitutions.

(vi) Government's provisron of 'some'funding for sports development in theannual financial budget.

(vii)The local authorities have welfaredepartments in the cities, town,municipal and county councils whoseresponsibilities, among others, is torender sports services.

0viii) A substantial number ofgovernment departments, parastatalsand other quasi- governmentorganizations have sports departmentswhich organize and coordinate sportsprogrammes for their employees.

Inspite of the strides that have beenmade towards ensuring efficiency andeffectiveness in the management of SpOl1SinKenya, there are still a myriad of managerialand administrative problems and challengesthat need to be addressed. Outstanding ofthese include the following:(a) Persistent wrangles in the key national

sports federations. According toBadawy (1993), conflicts are a naturalphenomenon where human relationshipsexist but the dysfunctional ordestructive forms conflict must beavoided, minimized, controlled ormanaged. However, the persistentconflicts in the national federations, andin the Kenya Football Federation inparticular: have been responsible, to alarge measure, for the low standard offootball in Kenya. The negativeconsequences of the conflicts haveincluded withdrawal of corporatesponsorship, diversion of attention from

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development of the game, court caseswhich have tended to consume valuabletime and substantial sums of money,neglect of players and officials andbanning of the national federation fromparticipation in internationalcompetitions. Failure to manageconflicts that lead to such adverseeffects is an indication of weakness inthe management procedures andpractices.

(b) The management of sports in Kenya is,to a large extent, not professionalized.A large fraction of government sportsofficers in the department of sports, forinstance, are not trained professionals inthe area of sports management andadministration. There is also noprovision for professional qualificationfor those who aspire and eventuallybecome officials in the national sportsfederations. Consequently, leadership insports federations is open to 'everyother' person who ha.s the interest toprovide the required leadership so longas he/she is able to win the elections.

(c) There has been a long-standingcontroversy between the roles of thegovernment's department of sports andthe Kenya National Sports Council.Other than the single distinction of thedepartment being the arm ofgovernment and the sports councilbeing the umbrella non-governmentalorganization for all the national sportsfederations, a duplioation of roles of thetwo organizations is evident.

(d) There is apparent conflict of roles of thegovernment sports officers in thedistricts and those of the local councilsports officers or welfare officers. Thelocal authorities personnel's rolesstretch upto the grassroot level but arenot answerable to the District SportsOfficers who are expected to run sportsin their respective districts but do nothave their own officers at the grassrootslevel. Any pulling together of the effortsof the government sports officers andsports officials in the local authorities isbased on goodwill.

(e) The role of the international sportsfederations in handling and interveningin matters of the national sportsfederations has not been clearly speltout. The international federations have

constantly stood accused of interveningin the affairs of their national sportsfederation without any regard fornational interests and needs. Asconsequence of their interventions,inefficient, ineffective and or sometimescorrupt officials have had to remain inoffice or some compelled to leaveoffice.

(D The need for regular review ofconstitutions of the various nationalfederations appears to receive lukewarmattention. This position arises from thefact that the period of time over whichreviews of constitutions of the variousnational sports federations should beenforced are not clearly specified. Assuch, some national sports federationshave tended to take the risk of usingoutdated constitutions that are out oftouch with current situations and evenperceptions.

(g) Planning is an important managementfunction that is quite crucial to thedevelopment of organizations andprogrammes. Long-term plans, forinstance, are necessary in forecastingthe achievements that should be realizedin a period of at least more than tenyears. Such plans assist in committingmembers of an organization to worktowards achieving what has beenlogically decided upon in advance.Unfortunately, it has not been quiteevident as to whether any such planningis done with regard to the developmentof sports in Kenya as information onsuch plans are rarely made known to thepublic, including the key players inmatters of sports. Consequently, thedirection to be followed in terms ofgeneral sports development,development and expansion of sportsfacilities, training of managerial andtechnical personnel and other areas thatrequire attention is not quite clear.

(h) The other important managementfunction in sports is that of providingdirection or guidelines on how tasksshould be performed. This may involveformulation of policies, rules andregulations that should be implementedto bring about success (Bucher &Krotee, 1993). Unfortunately, to thisdate, Kenya has not succeeded informulating a national policy to guide

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the development of sports III thecountry.

(i) Sports management personnel in Kenyahave the responsibility of attending tothe needs of all the key players in thefield of sports, including, the athletes,coaches, trainers and other technicaland support staff. Outstanding of theneeds include provision of adequateincentives, meeting their training needsand addressing any disagreementsamongst them (Bucher & Krotee,1993). It is however, disturbing thatcomplaints about inadequate or absenceof allowances and other incentives forKenyan athletes on national.assignments have been common(Njororai & Wekesa, 2000). Asubstantial number of Kenyan athleteshave continued to relocate to countriesin Europe and Asia, and even changedtheir citizenship in their pursuit forbetter incentives. Cases of nationalcoaches resigning from their coachingroles due to non-payment of theirsalaries and allowances are widelyreported in the media. In addition, thereis no centralized programme orinstitution that coordinates the trainingof sports personnel in the country:coaches are. for instance. trained byuncoordinated local and internationalorganizations and institutions(Mwisukha,2007).

U) Funding for sports development hasbeen a persistent problem faced in themanagement of sports in Kenya(Mwisukha, 2007; Shehu, 1998). In astudy on the training of athleticscoaches in Kenya, Mwisukha (2007)notes that inadequate funding is themain problem faced in theimplementation of training programmesfor the coaches. Apart from this,conti gents of teams destined forinternational competitions are oftenreduced due to limited funds to cater fortheir allowances and upkeep during

• training and competition (Shehu, 1998).(k) The fact that some of the modern sports

were introduced in Kenya along raciallines has made a number of them tocontinue being dominated by someracial and ethnic groups in terms ofmanagement and active participation.Consequently, talent identification in

such sports tends to be confined to theconcerned racial and ethnic groups.

Way Forward for Management of Sportsin Kenya

In view of the problems andchallenges associated with the managementof sports in Kenya, there is need forstreamlining of the same. The followingsuggestions are advanced towards that end:(i) There is urgent to professionalise the

management of sports in the country. Arequirement for professional training insports management and or related fieldsas criteria for appointment or electioninto management positions should beput in place and enforced. Such anundertaking is squarely theresponsibility of the government'sdepartment of sports.

(ii) In order to regulate the management ofsports, the formulation and enforcementof a national policy on sports ismandatory (Munayi, 2000). Thenational policy should capture thefollowing key areas:

Specify the structure and hierarchyfor sports management in thecountry. This includes outliningclear roles of the variousorganizations involved in themanagement of sports so as toeliminate duplication and conflictin the roles of the organizations.The policy should also highlight onvarious sports development plansand strategies.Since conflicts have been adisturbing phenomena in Kenya'ssports organizations, the policy willhave to put forward concretemeasures and structures for conflictresolution in the organizations.Acquisition and proper utilizationof resources in the realm of sportsmanagement should be captured.The way resources such as money,manpower, time and other materialresources are to be availed and usedmust be clearly specified in thepolicy document to avoid abuseand or wastage of the resources.In view of the importance andcomplexity of a policy document, itshould be formulated by suitably

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knowledgeable and skilledpersonnel.

(iii) The need for a firmly establishednational training programme for sportspersonnel is of great necessity.Mwisukha (2007), for instance,advocates for a centralized nationalacademy, institute or organization totrain sports managers and othertechnical personnel. Such an institutionshould be set up with joint efforts of thegovernment, national sportsorganizations and their internationalbodies so that the certification isrecognized by all the concerned parties.This way, the much-needed personnelwho are knowledgeable and skilled willbe availed to steer the development ofsports in the country.

(iv) Since funding of sports programmes has/ been a thorny issue in the development

of sports, more alternative ways ofraising the required funds must beconstantly explored. This is particularlynecessary in the face of the ever-diminishing, government budget forsports (Mwisukha, 2007; Shehu 1998).Shehu (1998) therefore outlines themany other alternative ways of raisingfunds for sports programmes asincluding the following:

Institution of raffles and lotteries.Organizing more sports clinics.coaching courses and seminarsfrom which money can begenerated.Maximizing on gate-collectionsand hire of sports facilities fornational and international events.Initiating of sponsorship deals withthe corporate organizations. This isan endeavour that should involvehaving knowledge of potentialsponsors, their interest in givingsponsorship and developing mutualrelationships.

ConclusionAlthough it is not possible to

eliminate all the problems and challengesfacing the management of sports in Kenya,there is need for strategies to minimize themand ensure effective and efficientmanagement of sports in the country. Themost viable strategies are only possible ifthe sports programmes in the country are

managed by personnel who possess the rightknowledge and skills of management, andcommitted to apply the appropriateapproaches, procedures and policies gearedtowards enhancing the standard of sports.

References

Asembo, J. M. (2003): Sport in Kenya. In L.O. Amusa and A. L. Toriola (eds):Sport in Contemporary African Society:An Anthology. Africa Association forHealth, Physical Education, Recreation,Sport and Dance, Technikon Pretoria,Pretoria, South Africa.

Badawy, M. K. (1993): Management as aNew Technology. McGraw Hill Inc.,New York.

Bhushan (1988): Chew Kenya. NewpreadInternational, Nairobi.

Bucher, C. A. and Krotee, M. L. (1993):Management of Physical Education andSport. Mosby Yearbook, St. Louis.

Mazrui, A. A. (1986): The Africans: A tripleHeritage. BBC Publications,London.

Mwisukha, A. (2007): Evaluation of theProfessional Preparation andCertification of Athletics Coaches inKenya. Unpublished PhD Dissertation,Kenyatta University, Nairobi.

Munayi, S. (2000): Which Way KenyanSports: Towards a National Sports Policy.In: W.W.S Njororoi, J. M. Asembo and S.P. Munayi (eds): Physical Education,Recreation, Sport and Health in Kenya:Priorities for the zr' Century.Proceedings of the Second KenyaConference of the Kenya Association forHealth, Physical Education, Recreation,Sport and Dance, 4'h - 5'h September,Egerton University, Njoro, pg. 47 - 54.

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Njororai, W. W. S. and Wekesa, M. (2000):Kenya at International SoccerCompetitions. In L. O. Amusa and A. L.Toriola (eds): Sport, Exercise and Health.Proceedings of the Third ScientificCongress of the Africa Association ofHealth, Physical Education, Recreation,Sport and Dance (AFAHPER-SD) held inSeptember 11 - 15, 1997, in Nairobi, pg.32 - 37.

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