In addition to the competition that takes place during the FINA World Aquatics Championships, the gathering serves as a crucial setting for administrative meetings about the sport as well.
Among the decisions made this week was the appointment by FINA of a ‘stabilization committee’ to run the Kenya Swimming Federation for the next 6 months.
The committee will include Jace Naidoo as chairman, Moses Benon Mwase as a member, and Francis Mutuku as a member.
The move comes after years of failure by the KSF to hold elections in compliance with FINA rules. The KSF was first suspended by FINA in 2019 pending new elections in compliance with international rules. Three years later, in May of 2022, the federation was banned ‘indefinitely’ after failing to meet two deadlines for elections in 2020. That included Kenyan athletes swimming under neutral flags
FINA Executive Director Brent Nowicki sent a letter informing the federation of the news. Among the duties ascribed to the stabilization committee include running day-to-day operations of the federation, conducting a proper election for the federation’s board of directors, and evaluating the federations constitution for any changes that need to be made.
Naidoo, who will head the stabilization committee, is a former president of the South African swimming federation from 2004 through 2016. Mwase is a member of the FINA legal committee who hails from Uganda. Mutuku, the only Kenyan on the committee, is the current secretary of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya.
FINA previously implemented a similar stabilization committee in Mexico, another embattled federation, in January.