NAIROBI, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The 2010 African Athletics Championships set for Kenya appear to have run into yet more difficulties.

Two Local Organizing Committee (LOC) officials hinted on Tuesday that the event had fallen into further problems with veiled undertones that Athletics Kenya (AK) were ready to pull the country out of the event altogether.

LOC chairman Isaiah Kiplagat and CEO, David Okeyo, who are also senior AK officials, told journalists in Nairobi that a meeting of the entire organizing body on Wednesday would spell out the future of the continental championships set for July 28 to August 1 in Nairobi.

"We are too slow and we have bottlenecks. We have a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) and we do not want to pre-empt what shall be discussed in that meeting. We will let you know what happens," Okeyo said.

Three months ago, Kiplagat had given the Kenyan government a December ultimatum to financially guarantee the 4.04 million U.S. dollars needed to host the event or they would petition the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) to withdraw Kenya from the event.

"We are extremely slow since we want the input of everyone in the LOC. There is no need of telling people that we are doing so well but there is nothing to show for it. It is better to release (the truth) so that the people of Kenya can know what is happening," he said.

"We everything fails, it is we who shall carry the cross but in this case, we shall not carry the cross alone."

The government had not released money needed to set up the LOC secretariat for the event that was initially set for late March before being postponed by three months when it became apparent Kenya could not host the championships.

At the event's re-launch late November, Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga seemed to put the myriad problems that had beset the event behind, saying, "The journey to hosting the Africa Senior Athletics Championship has just begun. It will be no simple task and it requires full commitment and financial support for the country to have a successful championship."

However, despite the assurance, AK and Kenyan Sports Ministry officials led by Minister, Prof. Helen Sambili who has been locked in a bitter behind-the-scenes battle to control the event, especially the finances appear headed for a big fallout that could cripple the country's chances of hosting the event.

Kenya, which has produced champion distance runners, has never staged the event.