Former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat has added his voice to the political turmoil in Kenya saying it has affected preparation for international assignments, the local Saturday Standard reported.
Tergat, who is also a World Food Programme Ambassador Against Hunger, said local and international athletes have been affected by the post-election violence that has gripped the country.
Following the violence, Athletics Kenya has been forced to cancel two cross country meetings in Nyahururu and Eldoret.
In a statement issued on Friday, the five times World Cross Country champion said Kenyans should love one another as brothers and sisters and should tolerate each other's political and religious differences.
"Innocent lives have been lost, property destroyed, and experts said our economy has been driven more than 10 years back," Tergat said.
He also sent his condolences to the bereaved families of the post-election violence saying that the country has suffered a lot.
He paid tribute to former international athlete Lucas Sang who was killed in the violence.
He said the death of Sang whom he described as a friend and role model touched him.
"As a senior athlete, Sang was among my role models. He always fought for the good of young athletes and the general development of athletics in Kenya," he said.
The late Sang, who died on New Year's Eve at Munyaka Estate in Eldoret, was laid to rest on Thursday in a funeral attended by the country's elite athletes and political leaders.
Tergat appealed to the warring parties to find a solution to the problem so that normalcy can return to the country and people can continue with their daily chores without fear of being attacked.
Meanwhile, AK has donated food worth 55,000 Kenyan shillings (about 846 dollars) to the Kenya Red Cross to ease humanitarian crisis in the country caused by the post-election violence.
"We feel that some Kenyans are suffering and wanted to ease some of their troubles," AK treasurer David Kinyua siad.
AK will also organize a peace run next month to promote peaceful co-existence among different communities in the country. The run will start in Nairobi and end in Kisumu, west Kenya.
Source:Xinhua
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