KSSSA: Age cap of 19 to remain

We are not going to allow mercenaries to infiltrate the Kenya Secondary School Games again by lifting the age cap rule.
This was the resolution reached at the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) governing council meeting at Jogoo House in Nairobi last Friday as the education ministry maintained that all students participating in Secondary school games must be under 19 years old.
According to KSSSA, observing the ruling by the High Court that declared age limit ceiling rule illegal in school championships will see a comeback of ineligible players into school games a vice the school’s sports body and ministry has struggled to eliminate for years.
KSSSA Secretary General David Ngugi is categorical that the court’s decision would see the comeback of ineligible players and will also see Kenya risk missing out on international school’s competition which are played on strict age limits.
In June last year, Justice Eric Ogola ruled that section 17 (iii) of the KSSSA constitution discriminates students who are aged above 19 years noting that provisions of the constitution of Kenya outlaw any discrimination in public bodies or institutions, but the full council argued that East Africa Secondary School Games are exclusively for students under 19 years of age and Kenya will definitely be locked out the championships beginning this year if they failed to observe that age rule.
“We have the East Africa Secondary Schools games which are strictly for students under 19 years of age and the Copa Coca cola Africa Youth tournament which are for under 16’s. Failing to observe this age caps would mean we don’t participate in such games killing the dreams of many Kenyan children”, Ngugi said.
The full council meeting, which was attended by the top ministry of education officials also agreed that there will be no lifting of any bans this year.
The council observed that lifting bans before schools served their punishments to the full have encouraged the schools to repeat the same offences.



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