Africa has never hosted the event and didn't submit a bid for the 2012 Olympics.
"If Mexico could host it in 1968, and it was a poor country, why can't we?" Sports Minister Ochillo Ayacko said Thursday. "We are serious about sports. We're actually an Olympic tiger in the making. Participation includes hosting."
Kenya has at least one supporter in International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
IOC president Jacques Rogge is hoping an African country will bid for the 2016 Summer Games. (CP Photo)
Visiting Africa for the first time since taking the IOC's top job in 2001, Rogge said earlier this week the Games can go to the continent "as soon as possible."
Cape Town finished third in the voting for the 2004 Olympics, which were later held in Athens. Cairo was eliminated during the early stages of the 2008 campaign (Beijing was eventually selected) and no African cities made a pitch for the 2012 Games.
According to Rogge, an African city would have a strong chance of winning if it could meet certain requirements.
Those would include a new Olympic stadium. The 60,000-seat facility used for the 1987 All-Africa Games – the last major multi-sport event held in Kenya – has fallen into disrepair.
The bidding process for the 2016 Games doesn't begin until 2007. The host city is picked in 2009.
Paris, New York, London, Madrid and Moscow are in the running for the 2012 Olympics. The IOC will select the host city in July.
with files from Associated Press
