NAIROBI, Kenya, June 22, 2025 – Athletics Kenya (AK) president Lt Gen (Rtd) Jack Tuwei has promised that the federation will review its safeguarding policy in line with emerging evidence on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
Lt Gen (Rtd) Tuwei said the policy has thus far proven effective in curbing the vice but noted that AK is committed to making it better.
“In December 2023, we developed our safeguarding policy that was approved by world athletics to ensure protection of athletes and all other persons in the sports. The experience we are learning here will help us to review our safeguarding policy,” Lt Gen (Rtd) Tuwei said.
The federation developed the safeguarding policy in December 2023, following a series of consultative meetings with stakeholders including athletes, coaches, managers and AK branch officials, among others.
The consultative forums were necessitated by cases of gender based violence (GBV) and financial exploitation afflicting the athletics industry.
In particular, the policy came against the backdrop of the murder of the then world record holder for the women’s 10km, Agnes Tirop, whose body was found in her home in Iten in October 2021 – with stab wounds on her body.
The safeguarding policy outlines modalities and practices for protecting athletes from GBV, sexual harassment, and financial exploitation, among other vices.
Lt Gen (Rtd) Tuwei further emphasised on the need to expedite justice to victims of SGBV, noting that a number of cases in court have taken long to determine.
“SGBV is one of the abuses unacceptable to us in AK. Due to increasing cases of SGBV in athletics in Kenya, we need to see how court cases and investigations can be expedited to provide justice to victims as in the case of Tirop,” he said.
He was speaking in light of the release of a report by the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications, which revealed rampant sexual harassment and violence towards sportswomen in Kenya.
The report, which interviewed 268 sports stakeholders in Kenya, found that a majority (69 per cent) have experienced or witnessed SGBV in the industry.
The president admitted SGBV is a huge problem in athletics, pointing out that the results of the study are in tandem with what AK has found in its interactions with stakeholders in the industry.
“The results of this study tally with what we found out in our research. I hope we can extend this study to Africa and learn from other places such as Europe and Asia,” Lt Gen (Rtd) Tuwei said.
In November last year, the federation undertook another series of consultative forums with athletes in Machakos, Ngong’, Kericho, Kapsabet, Iten and Nyahururu to create awareness on avenues to seek help for SGBV as well as financial exploitation.
The forums were undertaken in collaboration with National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) and Equity Bank.
