SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON. MWAI KIBAKI, C.G.H., M, P., PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DUIRNG THE WELCOMING CEREMONY OF THE KENYA TEAM TO THE 18TH COMMONWEALTH GAMES AT STATE HOUSE, NAIROBI, ON 29TH MARCH, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome you back home and to congratulate all of you for your sterling performance during the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. I note with great pleasure that our team emerged 10th overall in what is indeed one of our best performances in the Commonwealth Games in many years.

I recall that when I handed the flag to your Captain as the team prepared to leave for Melbourne, you were all very confident that you would be winning many medals. Your determination has enabled you to bring home six gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. These medals, have reinforced our reputation as a country of distinction in the field of sports.

I was personally overjoyed as I watched your captain Ezekiel Kemboi lead his team-mates into a clean sweep of the 3,000 meters steeplechase. This was a great moment for Kenya. Once again, we have proved our country’s dominance in an event that has made our athletes famous around the world.

Kenyans are very proud of your performance. Indeed, the entire country watched and cheered as our National Team won one medal after another. You are our true heroes and heroines. My Government, will continue to encourage and support our young sportsmen and women. In this respect, we have increased the awards to medal winners from 300,000 to 500,000 shillings for gold medal winners, 200,000 to 300,000 shillings for silver medal winners and 150,000 to 200,000 shillings for bronze medal winners.

I am aware that your remarkable performance would not have been possible without a dedicated and focused management team. I wish, therefore, to congratulate the entire management team for their hard work in preparing the team for the Games. I appeal to you to aim even higher and to maintain the same professional standards and dedication.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We appreciate that the competition was very stiff, especially from those countries that entered very many sports disciplines. I am aware that some countries like Australia, had entries in more than 25 disciplines, while we had entries in just 12 disciplines. Indeed, I am confident that we would have been in a much better position overall had we entered more sports disciplines. We must now begin diversifying our sports portfolio to enable our country participate in more disciplines in future sporting events.

I challenge the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services to come up with a strategy to ensure that our participation in future championships will feature more sports disciplines. We would like to see the competitiveness demonstrated in this year’s Commonwealth Games exhibited, and even improved during future events, such as the 2007 All Africa Games and the 2008 Olympic Games.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What was even more remarkable during the Commonwealth games was the confidence exhibited by our young athletes, who were appearing in an international event for the first time. This showed that Kenya continues to produce the best long distance athletes in the world. Indeed, it was a pleasure to see some of our young athletes excel over more experienced competitors. In this regard, I congratulate Janet Kipkosgei who defeated the experienced Maria Mutola of Mozambique and won the gold medal in the 800 metres race.

We must continue to harness and support these young talents who have the potential to become International Stars. We are all aware that sports is now a major industry that offers an avenue of employment, especially among the youth in our country. As I have had occasion to mention, my Government has initiated a wide range of measures to develop this industry.

In this regard, we have developed a Sessional Paper on Sports Development and a draft Sports Bill to guide sports development.

Further, my government supports the establishment of a Sports lottery. This will have a dual purpose of funding sports and sports people in the country, while rewarding handsomely those who participate in the lottery. It will also supplement government allocations to sports in the country.

In the just concluded Commonwealth games, for example, the Government spent more than 70 million shillings to ensure that our team was properly prepared for the games. I call upon other stakeholders to put more resources in the development of sports in the country.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish our medallists who will be participating in the World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, great success. Once again, I commend you all for your exemplary performance and wish you success in your future endeavours.

Thank you and God bless you all.