It has emerged that a plan by corrupt sports officials at the Ministry of Sports to sneak people to the United States was the cause of delayed visas that impacted Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala.
According to a report that appeared in the MediaMax newspaper, People Daily, the US Embassy in Nairobi had declined to issue US travel visas for 112 people who had been forwarded by the Ministry of Sports for approval.
Apparently, this number was higher than the 80 persons who had been approved by Athletics Kenya. The extra 32 persons were unknown to Athletics Kenya. In response, the US Embassy said that it would not be issuing any Visas beyond the 80 that had been proposed by Athletics Kenya.
This resulted in delays that impacted Omanyala. The daily reported that officials from the Ministry of Sports had asked the 32 extra people to cough as much as Sh. 2 million for a slot in the list.
According to the People Daily, cunning officials from the ministry had sent the 112 names in two separate batches in a bid to disguise the number of names in the list.
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The delay in the issuance of the Visa to Omanyala led to an outcry from Kenyans, with many seeing the move as unfair. On Thursday mid-morning, though, the US Embassy finally gave Omanyala a visa. Omanyala was scheduled to leave Kenya or Oregon, US, at 6pm on Thursday evening. It was not immediately clear if other athletes who had missed their visas were also given.
This was not the first time that officials from the Ministry of Sports have embarrassed Kenya with a travel scandal. In 2016 during the Rio Olympics, officials from the Ministry were found to have allocated travel tickets and the official team kit to relatives at a price.