(ATR) Kenyan National Olympic Committee President Kip Keino tells Around the Rings he "appreciates what the IOC has done" by not suspending the NOC.
The IOC Executive Board is meeting in PyeongChang to discuss a number of items. Included on that agenda was a potential suspension of the NOC-K over autonomy issues. After the Rio 2016 Olympics numerous NOC-K officials were arrested for graft, and the sports ministry attempted to disband the NOC citing "mismanagement."
Earlier this month the NOC-K failed to approve a new constitution, which was negotiated between the NOC-K, IOC, and Kenyan sports ministry.
"The constitution will be passed on the 28th of this month," Keino told ATR. "We are going to have a meeting and meet with the federations and pass the constitution then have an election on the 20th of next month."
Keino said that the new meeting date was set after the NOC-K executive board unanimously backed the constitution. In the original meeting, local reports said only four of 11 board members voted for the constitution. A total of 19 members voted for the constitution, with 13 voting against. The constitution requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
An IOC spokesperson told ATR from PyeongChang that discussions were "moving in the right direction." After the NOC-K failed to initially approve a new constitution, the IOC halted payments to the Kenyan NOC and said it was "extremely disappointed" in the vote.
"We are still waiting for agreement of whole of NOC and all its representatives," the spokesperson added.
Keino says that the NOC-K wrote to the IOC after the Executive Board met to discuss new changes. He said he was glad the IOC held off on a suspension in a show of good faith for the NOC.
"They accepted and agree with [the moves]; we appreciate what the IOC has done," Keino said. "We should not be fighting for anything we should be thinking about the development of the youth of this country, which are more important than ourselves."
Written by Aaron Bauer
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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