This archive report was first published on 1 August 2019.
On April 1, the Kiambu County headquarters hosted the Kiambu Super Cup, a tournament that cost the county millions of shillings to launch.
According to the county's Chief Officer for Youth and Sports, Penina Kamau, the county spent Sh1.9 million on the event, which included a mobile stadium, branded scarfs, a public address system, brochures, bottled water, a portable dais, décor, and media wall.
The county also paid Sh262,000 in Value Added Tax (VAT) to the national government, Kamau revealed.
Beneficiaries of the allowances included referees, who received Sh1.4 million, field coordinators (Sh448,000), and MCAs (Sh108,000).
However, the county still owes Sh612,000 to MCAs who did not receive their allowances, Kamau told the committee.
Despite the expenditure, Youth and Sports Executive Karungo Thang'wa defended the launch, saying it had attracted a lot of attention and interest from potential sponsors.
However, the MCAs, including Majority Leader Gideon Gachara, disagreed, calling the event a waste of public resources.
“That was nothing but misplaced priorities for the department. As the assembly, we are going to stop this kind of wastage since we believe such money can be used for other better things,” Gachara said.
Kimani Wanjiku, the Kinoo MCA, questioned why the launch could not have been done in one of the county's stadiums, and why the tournament was projected to cost Sh7.7 million, up from Sh5.6 million that was passed by the assembly.
