DCI Probing Govt Officials Over Omanyala US Visa Saga
The DCI boss accused the officials of ruining the chances of Omanyala becoming one of the best sprinters in the world due to the saga.
Marvin Chege 
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is investigating the visa saga that led to Africa's fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala witnessing delays in his trip to the United States (US) for the 2022 World Championships at Oregon.
The agency's Director, George Kinoti, stated on Friday, July 15 that the detectives are investigating the alleged addition of non-officials to the list of athletes, coaches and technical officers submitted by Athletics Kenya (AK).
The alleged increase of the travel list from 80 to 112 officials had apparently led to delays in issuing US travel visas to athletes, including Omanyala who almost missed the championships by a whisker.
The DCI boss accused the officials of ruining the chances of Omanyala becoming one of the best sprinters in the world due to the saga.
“It is really shocking…this is a shame not to the country but to the whole world. We shall not accept,” said Kinoti, while confirming the ongoing investigations, which he said commenced at the invitation of the Ministry of Sports.
However, officials from the State Department of Sports denied allegations that the non-officials were included in the travel party, with each set to receive Ksh2 million as bribes.
Joe Okudo, the Principal Secretary in the State Department of Sports, maintained that only six Ministry officials were listed for the day-long trip halfway across the world, mainly for a meeting with Kenya’s chief kitting sponsors Nike who are based in Oregon State.
Amongst the travelling party include Sports Cabinet Secretary, Amb Amina Mohammed, her personal assistant, a technical person from the Ministry and a representative from the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund.
Okudo maintained that the World Athletics Championships remain under Athletics Kenya as a federation and that the Ministry is currently focusing on financing and arranging Kenya’s participation at the July 28 to August 8, 2022, Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“The fact that I didn’t travel says a lot. Only those who need to travel from the Ministry are travelling,” Okudo said.
The PS said that the Sports Ministry was only involved when Athletics Kenya asked for assistance with Visas after the US Embassy said it needed the government to endorse the delegation.
“All athletes got their visas except Omanyala because some information was not disclosed in his application, which had nothing to do with AK. Omanyala is best placed to answer that,” said Okudo.
Omanyala had failed to travel with the Kenyan team to the US on Tuesday night, July 12 over the matter, which came as a massive hurdle to his hopes of clinching a gold medal at the event. The matter took a turn for the worse after details emerged that the US Embassy in Nairobi had not issued exact reasons behind the travel delays.
Nonetheless, he was granted a visa to travel to the US and sailed to the 100 metres semi-finals in the championships, finishing third with a time of 10:10 seconds in heat seven of the races, which was won by Japanese Abdul Hakim (9:98) and Edward Osei Nketia of New Zealand (10:08).
The race took place at 4.30 am. Omanyala put up a spirited fight despite arriving at the championships just hours before the race.
Ferdinand Omanyala during the World Championships in Oregon, USA on July 16, 2022.
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