Immediate former Cabinet Secretary for Sports Ababu Namwamba.. (Photo: Tony KARUMBA/AFP)
Former Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has taken to Twitter (X) to react to his dismissal from the Cabinet following the decision by President William Ruto to dissolve his Cabinet on Thursday.
Following three weeks of protests against the Finance Bill 2024, which the President withdrew on June 27, and his leadership, President Ruto heeded to public pressure and invoked Articles 152(1) and 152(5)(b) of the Constitution of Kenya and Section 12 of the Office of the Attorney-General Act to dissolve his Cabinet and pave way for the creation of a broad-based government.
In the post published on Twitter (X), Namwamba expressed gratitude to the appointing authority for the trust and confidence that informed his appointment to serve in Cabinet for the second time in my public service life.
"It is a special honour, privilege and blessing to serve one's nation, more so in Cabinet, the country's highest policy making organ," Namwamba also said.
Namwamba, 48, was first elected to Parliament in 2007 as the MP for Budalangi under the Orange Democratic Party. He was later appointed to the Cabinet in 2012 where he served as the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs.
Prior to his appointment as the Sports CS in President William Ruto's government, Namwamba had served as the Cabinet Administrative Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2023.
The dismissal of the former Sports CS and his colleagues came at a time when he was under pressure from the public to release the list of government delegates who will accompany the nation's athletes and sportsmen to the 2024 Olympic Games which starts in Paris, France, on July 26.
Namwamba's last act was in response to that pressure from public as a letter he wrote to the NOC-K Secretary General Francis Mutuku on Wednesday surfaced online on Thursday morning.
In the letter, Namwamba instructed Mutuku to finalise the list of the Team Kenya delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games while keeping it to the bare minimum by prioritising athletes, coaches, and medics.
He also directed Mutuku to rationalise the final budget for Team Kenya while paying attention to the revised allowances and rewards for the athletes while adhering to the austerity measures the Ministry is implementing across all its expenditure centres.
While reminding Mutuku that the Team Delegation list should be made public by NOC-K, Namwamba also directed the Secretary General to provide a detail report of the process, status, and cost of Team Kenya's ceremonial, competition, and training kit.
It is certain that following his dismissal as Sports CS, all the focus surrounding the release of the government's delegation to the 2024 Olympics Games which Namwamba was to lead will shift away from him.
During his tenure, Namwamba prided his Ministry in ensuring the return of Kenya to international football following its suspension by FIFA in November 2021 when then Sports CS disbanded the Football Kenya Federation and charged the running of its affairs to a 15-member caretaker committee led by Justice [Rtd] Aaron Ringera.
Namwamba also launched the Talanta Hela Initiative in January 2023 aimed at boosting the monetisation of creative and sporting talent in the country. Ababu formed several committees and secretariats to oversee the initiatives operations. However, the committees and their secretariats ceased operations in June 2023 when they were disbanded by a court ruling.
Even though the Talanta Hela committees and their secretariats were diabanded, Namwamba continued to drum support for the initiative and organised U19 boys and girls football tournaments under its umbrella in December 2023. Later, a boys' and girls' team drawn from players who competed in that tournament visited Spain in March 2024 to compete in tournaments.
Namwamba's reign as Sports CS will also be remembered for the management of the 2023 and 2024 World Safari Rally Championship whose organisations were marred with controversy following reports of key suppliers withdrawing due to non-payment of services.
It was also during Namwamba's tenure that Kenya was relegated from World Rugby Sevens Series. However, the team has sinced back to rugby sevens' elite competition after impressive performances in the Challenger Series.
Namwamba, therefore, leaves a mixed legacy in Sports docket as focus now shifts to his likely successor.
