On Monday, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed accepted an apology from the European Tour following last weekend’s erratic live television coverage of the Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship at Karen.
With global golf fans and Kenyan sports enthusiasts, generally, having trained their sights on the live broadcast, sad news filtered through that shipment of important broadcast equipment had delayed and that there would be no live coverage from the well-manicured Karen Country Club on day one, then day two and, eventually day three!
But in a dramatic, and fortunate, twist of events, the shipment finally arrived at the port of Mombasa last Friday and was processed in time to make it to Karen for the final round that saw South Africa’s Justin Harding win the prestigious tournament with an impressive score of 21-under-par 263, defeating his closest challenger, USA’s Kurt Kitayama, by two shots.
It emerged that the broadcast team at the European Tour Productions hit their tee shot into the rough and double-bogeyed their shipment plans, missing the cut and causing the inadvertent delay that disenfranchised millions of golf fans.
Further, Kenya lost an amazing opportunity to market the country’s tourist offerings and announce to the world that after the incessant, coronavirus-enforced challenges, we are open for sport!
“While the various logistical difficulties which cause the delay in equipment reaching Karen Golf Club were beyond our control, we fully understand and share the frustrations of our worldwide broadcast partners and golf fans around the world, as well as the many Kenyan sports fans who were looking forward to coverage of their national Open,” the European Tour said in their apology.
The European Tour also commended the Kenyan government and authorities for the speedy clearance of the broadcast equipment in Mombasa.
“We are grateful for the co-operation of the Government of Kenya and its specialised agencies at the port of Mombasa in Kenya who have helped us expedite the clearing of the equipment and we are now pleased to be in a position to show live golf,” the European Tour statement added.
Well, thankfully, we did get to watch the final round after the television personnel worked overnight on Saturday to make way for another world-class European Tour production.
Credit must go to the behind-the-scenes players that made this possible, the often unsung heroes of our nation.
In this instance, the efficiency by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and various government agencies involved in the port clearance processes must be highlighted.
For reasons best known to themselves, South Africa’s Dimension Television Facilities, contracted for production hardware and software by the European Tour, loaded the television equipment onto the Mombasa-bound vessel — the Italy-registered Jolly Perla – in the port of Durban pretty late, on March 4.
Sources indicate that Jolly Perla ran into a storm and had to detour into Maputo on April 10, eventually arriving in Mombasa on April 16, two days before tee-off at Karen, docking at 10.30pm.
It’s common knowledge that, generally speaking, it would take up to three days to offload containers from a vessel, depending on container capacity.
And indeed, the 240-metre long and 38-metre wide Jolly Perla took one and a half days to discharge its cargo.
What saved the day was the quick turnaround time at the port that saw the consignment take just 12 hours — rather than the traditional three days or more — to be processed by KPA, the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Kenya Revenue Authority, shipping agents, clearing and forwarding agents (Freight in Time Limited), security agencies and other interested parties.
Kenya Open Tournament Director Patrick Obath was impressed that it took approximately 36 hours from the time the vessel discharged its cargo to the consignment’s arrival at the Karen Country Club, in time to salvage live production for the final round watched by, among others, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The efficiency at the port bodes well for Kenya as we prepare for more such shipments to dock ahead of the World Rally Championship Safari Rally in June, and indeed for other major sporting events the country is positioning to host.
Lessons have also been learnt at the Kenya Open Golf Limited (KOGL) who are lucky this year to host back-to-back European Tour competitions with the Kenya Savannah Classic teeing off at Karen Tuesday and, thankfully, primed for complete, four-day live television coverage. We often underrate our efficiency!
KOGL ought to have kept their eye on the ball and questioned both the European Tour and Dimension Television Facilities from the word go on why they were sailing too close to the wind, literally and figuratively.
Nonetheless, all’s well that ends well, and it was professional of the European Tour to offer an apology, applauding the efficiency at our port in the process.
And, as CS Amina said yesterday, apologies accepted! Let’s now sit back, relax and enjoy four days of live broadcast from the Karen Country Club. Because the beautiful course is out of bounds for spectators, anyway, owing to strict, Covid-19 protocols.
Talking of protocols, let’s also stay away from Kasarani and cheer Harambee Stars virtually in Thursday’s must-win Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mo Salah’s Egypt.
And while at it, let’s not forget to congratulate our Paralympics team following their amazing outing in Tunisia where they panned a total of 16 medals (two gold, six silver and eight bronze) at the Tunis World Para-Athletics Grand Prix.
In the process, six of the medallists qualified for the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Indeed, Kenya is an amazing sporting nation! BY DAILY NATION