Athletics Kenya must now be proactive and decisive to stop gender violence

 

A group of athletes train at Kaptagat Forest in Uasin Gishu County on May 29, 2024. [File, Standard]

After the gruesome murder of track star Agnes Tirop in Iten in October 2021, the campaign against gender-based violence (GBV) in sports was scaled up.

Athletics Kenya (AK) in collaboration with the Ministry of Sports and security agencies, among other stakeholders, has sustained nationwide campaigns to sensitise athletes on the red flags of gender violence.

AK has established a GBV reporting mechanism to allow athletes to confidently report cases. The campaign has been taken to areas where a large number of the country’s athletes train like Ngong on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kapsabet and Kericho.

The forums have focused on, among other issues, discussions on possible causes and how to prevent cases of gender violence.

But the drive appears to have failed. Since the alarming 2021 case, several other athletes, among them Agnes Muthoni, Kenyan-born Bahrain runner Damaris Muthee and recently, Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei of Uganda, have lost their lives in situations linked to GBV.

The ongoing campaign has been reinforced by action.

Despite cases of GBV among male and female athletes being reported, no decisive action has been taken. The sportsmen and women, coaches and the federation have not been vocal and forceful. They have not declared an all-out war on the perpetrators, some who are known in athletics circles.

There are fundamental questions that entities and individuals leading the fight against GBV must answer if they hope to save the lives of the country’s world beaters.

How many reports of athletes battered by their intimate partners are gathering dust at police stations across Kenyan training bases? How many female athletes are being forced to stay in marriages just because they are not ready to lose properties they acquired using their hard-earned prize money, but registered them under their husbands’ names? How many women athletes were tricked into unions when they were minors? How many male athletes are taking their own lives because of pressure by spouses?

Through the reporting lines, AK should be telling the country the number of potential GBV cases they have prevented as well as the number of perpetrators reported to investigating agencies.

It is also worth noting that AK usually steps up its anti-GBV campaigns after an athlete is killed instead of being proactive.

It is critical that the federation takes full charge to keep off politicians who may use the campaign for their own interests.