The Galaxy of Generalisation: A Reply to Matt Lawton

Nairobi did not steal the 2029 World Championships from London. London lost a vote, and a section of the British press has chosen to lose its composure.

By Dr. rer. nat. habil. Dr. Seronei Chelulei Cheison

Matt Lawton, Chief Sports Correspondent of The Times, reacted to Nairobi's award of the 2029 World Athletics Championships by calling it an "incredible decision", his first stated objection being that it meant "three consecutive champs away from Europe". When challenged, he added: "Massive doping problem in Kenya." He has now expanded that objection into a column headlined "It's wrong London lost out on World Championships to nation tainted by doping", arguing that it is "far too soon" to entrust Nairobi with the championships. Let us take the argument seriously, because it deserves a serious answer.

The complaint that indicts itself

Mr Lawton's first grievance, stated in his own words, was that Nairobi 2029 means three consecutive championships held outside Europe: Tokyo, Beijing, Nairobi. Consider what that sentence confesses. The World Athletics Championships have been staged twenty times since Helsinki in 1983. Twelve of those twenty editions were held in Europe, the most recent in Budapest three years ago. Africa, the continent that has supplied the sport's distance running for two generations, has hosted precisely none. That a British correspondent should regard three championships in a row beyond Europe's shores as a scandal, rather than as an overdue correction, tells us where his compass points. It points home. Munich will host in 2031. Europe will go eight years between championships. Africa waited forty-six years to receive its first.

A host city is not a defendant

Mr Lawton's argument rests on collapsing three things that must be held apart: the culpability of individual athletes, the performance of a national anti-doping system, and the capability of a city to stage a championship. A host city is not a defendant and a championship is not a sentence. Once those three are separated, the case against Nairobi comes apart in the hand.

If the proposition is that a country's doping record should disqualify its cities from hosting, then let it be stated as a universal rule and let its author explain how it would have applied historically. Moscow staged the 2013 championships while what the McLaren investigation would later establish as an institutionalised and systematic state doping programme was operating, one that implicated medallists at those very championships and more than a thousand Russian athletes across sports. Where was the editorial thunder from The Times demanding that Moscow be stripped? Eugene received the 2022 championships without a competitive bid at all. None of this excuses a single Kenyan doping offence. It demonstrates why individual violations, national anti-doping systems and the suitability of a host city must be analysed separately, and why a rule discovered only when the beneficiary is African is not a rule.

What the numbers actually say

The figure being brandished, 318 Kenyan athletes sanctioned since the Athletics Integrity Unit was created, is serious, and nobody defending Nairobi should pretend otherwise. But a sanctions total is simultaneously evidence of a doping problem and evidence that athletes are being detected, prosecuted and removed from competition. Kenya sits in the Integrity Unit's Category A, the tier subject to the most intensive testing in the sport, and its athletes are tested accordingly. The relevant question is therefore not whether Kenya has had a doping problem, for it plainly has, but whether that problem makes Nairobi incapable of staging a clean World Championships.

On that question the evidence runs the other way. Kenya criminalised doping by statute in the Anti-Doping Act of 2016, which vests the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya with authority over testing, investigation, results management and prosecution. The government has committed five million dollars a year to testing and education, a commitment World Athletics itself cited this week in defending the award. Asbel Kiprop and Ruth Chepngetich were caught, charged and sanctioned. That is what a functioning system looks like. Mr Lawton offers Kenya's convictions as evidence of Kenya's guilt. A lawyer who argued that a country with many prosecutions must be lawless would be laughed out of chambers. World Athletics, for its part, has not presented Nairobi 2029 as absolution. Lord Coe said there were four outstanding bids and that the decision was difficult; the evaluation weighed government guarantees, budgets and growth potential. Nairobi won on the merits of a bid, not on the erasure of a record.

London's own scoreboard

Since the London Marathon was first run in 1981, Kenyan athletes have won its elite men's and women's races thirty-five times: twenty men's victories and fifteen women's. Eliud Kipchoge holds the men's record with four titles. This April, the greatest moment in the history of the event, the first sub-two-hour marathon ever run in open competition, was authored on the streets of London by Sabastian Sawe of Kapsabet in 1:59:30. British runners are welcomed each year to train in Iten and Kaptagat; Kenyan runners arrive each April to win in Greenwich. The sport's capital has been on the Rift Valley escarpment for decades. World Athletics has merely updated the postal address.

The galaxy of generalisation

Here is the true objection, and it must be named. Mr Lawton has taken the offences of individual athletes and draped them over fifty-five million people, a government, a city, a stadium, and a bid. That is the galaxy of generalisation. One need not speculate about Mr Lawton's motives; the asymmetry is visible in the argument itself. Individual Kenyan offenders become evidence against Nairobi. Comparable integrity crises elsewhere, Moscow above all, have not ordinarily been treated as permanent indictments of the cities and populations around them. When a European athlete falls, he falls alone; when a Kenyan athlete falls, a nation stands convicted. Whether that asymmetry is conscious or unconscious matters less than the fact that it exists, and that it has a long and unlovely history in how African achievement is reported in Britain. A standard enforced in only one direction is not a standard of integrity.

What Nairobi has already done

Kasarani hosted the World Under-18 Championships in 2017 and the World Under-20 Championships in 2021, the latter during a pandemic, and delivered both. The stadium is being rebuilt ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. The bid was contested against London and Rome, and it won on the votes of the World Athletics Council under a president who is himself British, an Olympic champion, and the architect of the very governance reforms Mr Lawton concedes are exemplary. Lord Coe did not lose his judgment on Tuesday. He exercised it.

A closing word

Kenya does not require Mr Lawton's permission to host the world, any more than it required his permission to win London's marathon, break the two-hour barrier, or fill the medal tables of every championship he has covered. In 2029 the fastest men and women on earth will run at Kasarani, at altitude, before a crowd that knows every split, watched by a continent that has waited since 1983. Mr Lawton is welcome to attend. He will find the testing rigorous, the welcome warm, the stadium full, and Africa, after forty-six years of waiting, finally at home.

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Dr. rer. nat. habil. Dr. Seronei Chelulei Cheison was born in Nandi County, Kenya, the birth county of Kipchoge Keino, Eliud Kipchoge and Sabastian Sawe. He writes from Langwedel, Lower Saxony, and Cheptabach, Nandi County.

The ICC's ignorance on the Nandi Culture inexcusable (first draft)

Nandi male initiates. The male initiation ceremony is an age-old annual practise in Nandi

The International Criminal Court sitting at The Hague in The Netherlands is prosecuting crimes against humanity against three Kenyans in an unprecedented case. Unprecedented because a sitting President (Uhuru Kenyatta) and his Deputy and erstwhile political nemesis (William Ruto) are facing charges related to the 2007 election in Kenya. William Ruto's co-accussed is radio personality, Joshua arap Sang who worked for the popular Kass FM during the election period and thereafter.

The circumstances leading up to the referrals and confirmation of charges are not the subject of this essay. NO.

My attention has been drawn to the claims by the prosecution that Messrs Ruto and Sang allegedly hijacked the Nandi intiation process and deployed it to form the "network with which they fought other ethnic communities". 

Couldn't the prosecution at the #ICC do a simple audit on fact versus fiction in order to understand basic cultural truths? I find the claims to constitute an inexcusable distortion of fact, a blanket condemnation of the Nandi culture and a sorry case for setting the proud Nandi people to ridicule. Let us deal with the facts.

FACT 1: Nobody can remember the last time the Nandi/Kalenjin took part in anything close to an oathing ceremony. We don't have any elaborate procedure for oathing. We have elaborate rites for cursing wrong-doers. Those curses can NOT be used to coerce anybody to do wrong. My community is a community of pious and religious people. So much that even though I am not a language student, I know that if a language has a wealth of vocabulary on something it demonstrates the importance attached to it and its variations. Sin, transgression and iniquity are words in the English language that describe wrong(doing). In the Nandi language that is clearly defined on the basis of its strength and "forgiveability". 

• Tengek (forgiveable sin)
• Ng'oogi (unforgiveable sin, one requiring elaborate cleansing ceremonies)
•  Kachilililutik (errors)

These words demonstrate a subconscious encapsulation of the community awareness to wrong-doing and a deliberate attempt to regulate it.

So when I saw claims of oathing including slaughter of animals I was aghast. How would this have happened? Was it performed by non-Nandi/Kalenjin people in our region? Was it a figment of somebody's imagination? Does the said claimant hail from an ethnic community in Kenya where oathing is part of daily life?

It is even insulting on our culture and an attack on the very core of our civilization to associate the slaughter of dogs, use of their blood or flesh for whatever ritual it is. That animal, the dog, just like a donkey, is a member of the group of animals which a Nandi would rather starve to death than eat. We simply can't touch its meat and blood. Talk of a goat or sheep. Talk of a cow. Those three are the animals we deal with each day. 

So when the prosecution buys this abracadabra about dog-slaughtering and oathing using animal blood, nothing could be wilder than this!

FACT 2: William Samoei Ruto and Joshua arap Sang, to the best of my knowledge, were both initiated into manhood vide the modern rites of passage. In Nandi county this was started by some converts to Christianity. It can be traced to a clansman of mine Jimmy arap Ketter of Chepterit, near Kapsabet. The alternative process is therefore called "KapJimmy".

I went through the Nandi rites. Every bit of the old way, ruthless and very heavy in symbolism. Nobody who went through it talks about it. Those who didn't go through it would stand out from a crowd. It is simply not easy to pretend to be one, because it is a process that trains one on, let us say "Body language".

The Nandi circumcision rites are so elaborate, and if you didn't know, password-controlled that unless one KNOWS the keys you'd not go beyond knowing what women know about it.

Essentially it's a system that has no respect for status (social or otherwise). It doesn't matter who it is NOBODY, and I REPEAT NOBODY, wields influence over the process except those who belong to the relevant categories: the mentors and the elders.

I hold the view that since William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang did not go through the rites, they are strangers to the process, hold no sway at all to the rites and would easily not get close to it for fear of the consequences (including curses). They know better than attempt it.

Then there is the outlandish claim. For the prosecution to claim that the two, who are strangers to the ceremonies, hijacked the process it is tantamount to claiming that boys and women could walk walk into a Nandi circumcision ceremony and play a role or even direct the strictly unchanging process.

That is simply unthinkable. 

It exposes a glaring lack of prosecutorial research, is intended to bring dishonour to the Nandi culture and tradition as well as bring disrepute to the great Nandi/Kalenjin people. That insult won't be excused.

FACT 3: Notably, the Nandi initiate their boys annually around end of November and early December. This timing coincides with the longest school holidays. Depending on when schools close, the initiation dates vary around end of November to early December. Therefore, before the PEV, and after that our boys have been initiated. In the period between initiation and graduation they live in a special "seclusion school" called Menjo. The curriculum that is taught there is one intended to develop a wholesome person. We were taught folklore and legend, respect for women and young girls (not to take sexual advantage of a drunk woman for example), for beasts and animals. We were taught respect for the stranger, that unknown man who passes by. Because he might do good, we were told. We were taught respect for the "teachers" and mother "who cooks for you". Do you notice how RESPECT permeates the whole curriculum?

I was never taught about enemy tribes and friendly tribes. No.

What the ICC has done is to destroy my pride as a Nandi, force me to tone down my association with my people as I walk through European capitals and interact with fellow scientists. My children would hesitate to identify themselves as Nandi because fellow German kids would say "we heard on TV" that your people killed others.

Our athletes, those guys who win golds and other gongs for Kenya shall walk off after the races for fear of being tagged with the reckless claims made by the prosecution.

Our reputation is soiled.

Is it that William Ruto and Joshua Sang are on trial or is it Nandi/Kalenjin?

The reputation, honour and international standing of what a Nandi/Kalenjin believes is under assault. I consider it right that we, the Nandi people of the world must seek court redress to cure the community name and restore ourselves to our place of pride.

We'll seek to cure that.

Thank you your honours!

New dawn for Nandi County: Online interview by Dr Seronei arap Chelulei Cheison for EmoPolitics Blog

A map of Nandi County

Brian of an online blog, Emopolitics, recently contacted me with a list of questions for an online interview.

EMOPOLITICS: In a nutshell, who is Dr. Cheison? (Family, origins, present locality and profession, any other information you would deem necessary for the electorate).

SCC: That is quite a bulky question there! Well, let us begin with the first question in CRE at Form one: Who Am I? I was born Barnaba Kibet on Tuesday February 20^th 1968 at my grandmother Opot Tera’s house just above Chererees river at a place called Chebinyiiny in what is currently Tindiret District in Nandi County to the late Joseph Kiptorus arap Rugut and Julia Chemoso (nee Chebo Koisamoo). Notably, my maternal grandfather, Surtan arap Koisamoo, was a Maotiot to Koitalel Samoei and his "court" tree-shade (Ketitab arap Koisamoo) still stands at Taito right below Taboiyat Primary School in Nandi Hills. I was later given the “kureneet” name Seronei after my grandfather’s brother (Nyongi Seronei). I dropped my Baptismal name Barnabas at Kapsabet Boys after reading the literature set-book “Betrayal in the City”. In that book, a “meeting” was called in Kafira and the first item on the agenda was “Africanisation of our names”. A good number of us changed our names as a consequence. That is how Barnabas went. Because the exam registration could only take three names, I kept Seronei arap Chelulei Cheison. Obviously I was given the name arap Chelulei after I went through the Nandi right of passage in 1986, although I had been instructed by my paternal uncles to register it as I reported to form one in February 1986, well before I was initiated, in November of that year. My family and I are born-again Christians. We fellowship with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Kenya.

Nandi County take-off to prosperity: Core issues for 2012 and beyond

Nandi County in Rift Valley presents an interesting face of Kenya. Geographically, it stretches from the low-lying soiin to the south through the lush green highlands of Kapng’etuny (Nandi Hills) to the stretch of endless plateau in Mosop to the North. The landmass seems to rise laboriously from the tip of Kapseng’ere to the west through the pristine forested midlands of Chesumei through Kapsabet to the elevated ridge of Ol’Lessos to the forests of North Tindiret. In between lie the tea estates and a whisper of wattle plantations. Cultural melting pot it is also, owing to the ethnic diversity of the inhabitants and the over 795,000 residents enjoy what is no doubt an eye-catching mix of culture, economic and socio-political menu. Nandi is home to such minority groups as the Okiek, Ngerekek, Luhya, Luo, Kikuyu, Kipsigis and Terik all living in harmony. Thanks to the new constitution, each of these peoples’ rights are protected and future county governments must cater for them by ensuring their inclusion in matters of governance. There are also special populations like the disabled, single parents and widowed families each facing their unique challenges. Our society must provide space for them. Nandi is still faced with challenges in land ownership, lack of title deeds in some areas and people living as squatters. These are issues that require firm action in order to enable every resident feel a part of our rich county.

Nandi is home to some 66 potential tourist sites (from the eye-catching water-falls at Mulangu to the North to the caves in Keben to the East), holds the religious HQ of the Nandi at Kapng’etuny (Nandi Hills Town) which is home to Koitalel Samoei Museum, the traditional suicide cliffs (Sheu) at Kibolewo near Kaprochoke and Moropi in Kapsimotwo. The County is blessed with institutions of higher learning led by the prestigious Kapsabet Boys High School right at the centre of Nandi. In a radius of only several kilometres, one finds Kapsabet Girls, St Joseph’s High School Chepterit and the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. These are not enough, Nandi needs more better schools, middle-level colleges to absorb and train artisans and youth who would be ready to go into self-employment as well as a university or two to alleviate the problem of shortage of education places. The future of university education might as well mean that there is need for 47 county universities. Nandi County must not be left behind in this.

Servant leaders, not servant thieves, please

We are elated because with the promulgation of this constitution, resource devolution was facilitated. With it too is the devolution of anything that was good and bad about Nairobi. The thieves who have been roaming the capital, pulling strings and cutting deals are definitely being devolved to Kapsabet, Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nyeri and any other County HQ. Where we say politics is local, we could as well say thieves shall be local.

With this constitution, the requirement that one must be a first rate thief to steal state largesse in order to develop his area is no longer tenable. Our society needs a Senator who's a negotiator, a (wo)man who can stand and defend the need for funding of key projects in an open and transparent manner. Governors must be (wo)men who can't deep fingers in the gravy jar. We need servant leaders, not servant thieves. So help us God.