One athlete, who stayed anonymous for fear of reprisals, described how the coach would "wake up in the middle of the night and come to our room", and "if you refused to do what he wanted, he would beat you up".

The coach, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was also accused of telling female members that they had to have sex in order to perform better on the grounds that "if a woman's private parts are wide, their legs move easily".

In response to this, team captain Moses Kipsiro, who won a 5,000 and 10,000 metres double at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games after a 5,000m bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, went public and relayed complaints from his female team-mates.

But this was dismissed by the Uganda Athletics Federation as "political" and Kipsiro was then controversially dropped from the national squad for the World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen last month in what was interpreted as a punishment for speaking out. 

Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games champion Moses Kipsiro was banned after complaining about the coach ©AFP/Getty Images





But, following extensive criticism, and a number of male and female national team runners deserting a training camp in protest - which has put their Glasgow 2014 preparations into doubt - Parliament has announced today that an investigation will occur.

"This is a national shame that a coach can harass these young girls and he goes scot-free," said Betty Amongi, an MP and chairman of Uganda's Parliamentary Women's Association.

"We are opening investigations in Parliament so that the culprit is arrested and punished for sexual harassment of the female athletes," she added.

Amongi also speculated that Ugandan police had failed to take appropriate action despite the fact that several runners filed formal complaints.

"We want the athletes to come out and expose these culprits," she said, adding police and the Government "must protect the victims and the whistle-blowers in this case".

The fact that a criminal investigation is now underway was confirmed by Ugandan police spokesman Fred Enanga, who told the news agency AFP that they are "taking up the matter" and that "those with information should pass it on to us to enable investigations".

The scandal also marks another blow for Uganda following the criticism already received from the international sporting community after the passing of a law prohibiting homosexuality, which was approved by President Yoweri Museveni last month.

As well as introducing potential life sentences for "aggravated homosexuality", which includes sex with a minor or while HIV positive, it explicitly criminalises lesbianism for the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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