By PETER NJENGA 

Two development programmes in Nairobi, one well-oiled and the other on the verge of collapse, form the latest news in the seemingly never ending Kenya cricket saga.

There is a Kenya Cricket Association (KCA) programme, managed by expatriates and funded by the International Cricket council (ICC). This is funded to the tune of Sh26 million annually and has already taken off in Nairobi, Naivasha and Thika. Kisumu, Nyahururu and Kakamega are to follow. 

The ultimate goal is to spread the sport throughout the country, an undertaking that, if successful, could see Kenya attain Test status according to the ICC schedule of 2005.

There is also another programme. This was started by the Nairobi Province Cricket Association in 1995. It was supported financially by the KCA for Nairobi public schools. But it is now struggling to survive because the KCA has withdrawn its support following a falling-out between the NPCA and the KCA two years ago. 

Coaches who were in the payroll of the KCA had no alternative but to quit NPCA and join KCA's programme for 33 public schools in the city. 

NPCA chairman Sukhbans Singh says there are no funds to pay coaches and co-ordinators and that this is one of the reasons they are finding it difficult to make headway. He says it is their programme that produced the likes of national team players Peter Ongondo, Thomas Odoyo, David Obuya , Josphat Ababu and Collins Obuya. 

The NPCA has targetted schools like Kamiti Primary, Githurai, Dr. Livingston and City Primary among others.

Unless something drastic happens, the NPCA programme is as good as dead, Sukhbans says. 

Their efforts to secure funding from corporate sources was on course with substantial amounts of money pledged by mobile service provider Safaricom and Stanbic Bank but these were allegedly scuttled by writs filed in court by the KCA which alleged that the Nairobi association had overstepped its jurisdiction. 

Soon after this was done, the NPCA chose to disaffiliate from the KCA. Government efforts to reconcile the two warring bodies has not yielded much. The Nairobi body was allowed to run a league following pressure from clubs and players who felt politics was killing the enthusiasm the game had created following the monumental achievements of Kenya's team that reached a historic World Cup semi-final earlier in the year.

The NPCA and KCA programmes, though aimed at tapping talent seem to lack foresight as neither have a structure for producing players for Kenya's "A" team. Previously players were picked for the national team directly from clubs.

The recently KCA appointed development manager Mark Lane, a former centre manager for Surrey County Cricket Centre of Britain, has now drawn a development programme based on a pyramid structure.

Lack of a development programme is one of the reason the ICC has cited as holding Kenya back from Test status. 

NPCA argues they are not helpless and the forthcoming elections could at least help resolve the impasse.

NPCA has not held elections since 1997 and this has apparently offered the KCA ammunitions to strength their case that the Nairobi body was illegally in office and therefore they are not legally bound to recorgnise them. 

KCA's cricket committee chairman Sharad Ghai said they have taken over the city programme for 58 schools.

Thirty three more in Nakuru have been identified and Nairobi-based coaches George Oyieko and Walter Mukinginyi have been contracted to start co-ordinating activities in the region.

Through the assistance of the Nakuru High School Parents Teachers Association, two pitches will be constructed.

Naivasha Club will be the centre for Naivasha and Gilgil based schools

KCA handed over equipment worth Sh20,000 to area member of Parliament Peter Kenneth towards five schools in Gatanga constituency.

The association is also to offer technical assistance. A similar programme will be started in Juja. 

The next stop is Nyanza. Mombasa have had their own programme. 

Is this simply a way of playing politics especially in Thika district?

"Certainly not," said Ghai. "I am simply returning home as I was born and brought up in Ruiru. My other name is Waira."

Despite the wise-cracks, KCA has been accused of selectively targeting high-cost private schools.

Ghai's explanation is that they have identified Peponi in Ruiru and Greenstead in Nakuru because of their facilities and a thriving cricket culture. 

The schools have been elevated to the level of cricket academies, funded by the KCA to admit youth from their localities.

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