A sigh of relief was breathed by Kenyans after the fastest man in Africa Ferdinand Omanyala was granted a last-minute visa to travel to the United States for the 2022 World Athletics Championships. In the early hours of yesterday, there was righteous anger, unparalleled anxiety, and a general feeling of resentment towards the government after sports enthusiasts learned that the 100m sprinter had not gotten clearance to travel to The States. Many Kenyans on social media called upon the Ministry of Sports to explain the circumstances under which their track hero had been left out of the traveling team. Coach Duncan Ayiemba then said; “Omanyala was called to the ministry this morning and was handed the visa to travel. He should be on the flight tonight to arrive in Oregon tomorrow morning."

Omanyala then left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport aboard a Qatar Airways flight at 6 pm.  He is now expected to arrive in the State of Oregon just two-and-half hours before the 100m preliminary round that gets underway at 10.30 pm Kenya time. He will, however, take part in the preliminaries as one of the highest-ranked athletes this year. He will then field in the heats that will start at 4.50 am on Saturday. The semi-finals will then happen on Sunday at 4.00 am before the final takes place at 5.50 am. “He will have a few hours to rest before he competes in the 100m heats (Friday), and hopefully qualify for the semi-finals and the finals,” said Mr. Ayiemba.

Athletics Kenya (AK) then clarified that the delay in two of the traveling athletes' visas was caused by inconsistencies filled in the questionnaires. AK executive committee member Barnaba Korir said Omanyala and Team manager Rono Bunei had issues to clarify at the US Embassy before they could be allowed to travel. Other sources now suggest that the fastest man in Africa might have been a victim of competing interests at the ministry of Sports. Korir added that before the national trials on June 24-25, they had two sessions with US Embassy officials where AK had requested an allocation of 80 visas. The Americans at the embassy said that they had a huge backlog but would give traveling athletes together with their coaches priority in the clearance process. AK presented the selected team of 46 athletes and 28 officials on June 28 and were called for interviews on June 30. 

Korir said that athletes were given some questionnaires and were called to pick up their visas on the following day. Korir clarified that all other athletes and coaches had their visas ready. It is now emerging that ministry officials might have caused Omanyala’s predicament as they had submitted his name in a list beyond the capped number in the delegation. If it is true that Omanyala's name had been out of the capped list then it means that even officials with non-core roles had been given priority. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would normally intervene under such circumstances but it suggested that the chaos were at the Sports ministry. An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “They know the procedure, we would normally not intervene for athletes, except where we do not have a resident embassy. The Ministry of Sports documentations are usually sufficient." As the Covid-19 restrictions loosened, the American embassy has been experiencing a surge in applications for Visas.