The national games trials were on Tuesday, March 5, brought to a halt after athletes staged protests at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.
While staging the protests, the athletes faulted the National Sports Council over an alleged bias in the criteria used to select representatives that will fly Kenya's flag in the upcoming 13th African Games expected to be held in Accra, Ghana between March 8 and March 23, 2024.
While airing out their concerns, the athletes refused to take part in the 2-day trials in preparation for the continental championships.
According to the athletes, the criteria applied by the Sports Council whereby only one representative was selected in each sport was discriminatory. This they said, has left them with no option other but to protest.
The athletes demanded that the three best-placed finishers be picked in each category of competition to offer as many opportunities as possible.
They also demanded Athletics Kenya (AK) to similarly consider including young athletes among those selected to represent Kenya.
In an attempt to address the matter, the Kenya National Sports Council official Andrew Mudibo urged the athletes to draft their complaints and present them to Athletics Kenya.
According to Mudibo, after the petition is presented to Athletics Kenya, his organisation will then present the complaints to the athletics council.
On February 29, Athletics Kenya announced 30 slots for athletes who were going to represent Kenya in the upcoming Africa games in Ghana.
AK stated it would pick one athlete from each sport in a move aimed at giving all the sporting categories a fair shake at granting Kenya representation.
Paul Mutwii, the Athletics Kenya Vice President noted the move was also reached due to financial constraints.
The decision has raised concerns among stakeholders who now say the decision was likely to hurt Kenya's competitiveness and the likelihood of securing as many medals as possible.
