Punish joy riders to Olympic games

Will it take a brazen strike by our sportsmen at international events to push for scaling down of the number of joyriders accompanying them and tackle jumbled travel arrangements?

At the just-started Olympic Games in Brazil, Kenya has yet again sent a motley of State and sport officials.

World, Commonwealth and African championship Javelin champion ‘You Tube man’ Julius Yego has come out to protest the joy-riding officials who edged out his coach. Apparently, he is not the only athlete in his predicament.

We are even made to understand that many athletes have had to make private arrangements to travel and participate in the games!

And will someone be held responsible for this ignominy? The answer is a big No. In Kenya, every official has a godfather who ‘takes care of things’.

It begs the question: just when will it sink into our heads that public monies are not for splashing left and right on personal entertainment and extravagance?

Does it require specific legislation spelling out severe punitive measures to ingrain discipline in responsible public expenditure of tax money by State and public officers? In countries such as China and much of the progressive Asia, such actions attract long sentences in prison.

Common sense demands that any expenditure that is a charge on the Consolidated Fund be necessarily for the general public good.

Expenditure on athletes and legitimate officials such as coaches, doctors, technicians and a bare minimum officials is a fair compensation for service rendered to the nation. Any extra personnel that add to the number by sneaking into the entourage are a criminal act on misuse of public funds punishable by law.

Such is the notoriety in respect to use of public monies that the county of Kisumu is reported to have taken 200 motorcycle riders to Rwanda for bench-marking on road safety!

It is fair that every Kenyan who cannot afford to be in Brazil for the Olympic games should watch the same on television. All the officials who are in Brazil at the cost of the taxpayer should be surcharged and action taken on the accounting officers who sanctioned abuse of office.