Kenya's preparations for an upcoming athletics event which serves as a qualifier for next year's Paralympic Games in Tokyo have been thrown into doubt ©KNPC

Kenya's preparations for an upcoming athletics event which serves as a qualifier for next year's Paralympic Games in Tokyo have been thrown into doubt following calls for the Government to withhold funding amid a row within the National Paralympic Committee.

The nation is scheduled to compete at an international meeting in Marrakesh from Tuesday (April 23) to Saturday (April 7).

But a leadership dispute at the Kenyan National Paralympic Committee (KNPC), the latest problem within the troubled organisation, has threatened to derail their participation.

The row centres on two factions who both claim to run the KNPC.

A team led by embattled KNPC chairperson Agnes Oluoch was put in charge of the trials for the event in the Moroccan city, despite a Sports Dispute Tribunal installing an interim committee led by rival Elijah Aliero to run the organisation.

Henry Kirwa was among the Kenyan athletics team which participated at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio ©Getty Images
Henry Kirwa was among the Kenyan athletics team which participated at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio ©Getty Images

According to reports in the Kenyan media, Oluoch ignored the decision from the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage and held trials for the event.

Oluoch, who has been the subject of controversy throughout her tenure as chairman, insists the team spearheaded by Aliero is deliberately trying to sabotage the squad's preparations.

Kenyan newspaper The Standard claims the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) recognises Aliero's interim group, rather than chairperson Oluoch, as the legitimate ruling body of the KNPC.

The dispute marks the latest crisis within the KNPC after Oluoch was ousted as chairman in 2015 for allegedly breaching the KNPC constitution on a number of occasions.

She was reinstated by the Sports Dispute Tribunal later that year, however.

Kenya were also forced to miss the 2015 World Championships after the Government refused to fund the team, a decision which raised doubts regarding the nation competing in athletics at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The African country eventually sent a 19-member athletics team to the Brazilian city.