This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
Kenya's national women's football team was disbanded and the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) offices raided by auctioneers over pending debts in an eventful week that highlighted the gravity of the financial mess in the country's sports sector.
On November 1, 2019, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed conceded that the Sports, Art and Social Development Fund procedures need to be streamlined to efficiently benefit the country's national teams.
She acknowledged a huge gap between approval of moneys requested by federations and disbursement into their accounts, vowing to push for the establishment of a faster system.
“His Excellency the President (Uhuru Kenyatta) established funds and he did that for the sportspersons of our country and so I think we are all duty-bound to ensure the promise he made is fully achieved,” Amina said.
She added, “It’s not enough to have a fund; I think you have to have systems in place and structures that allow those funds to flow to their desired destinations. That’s what we’re putting in place now and making sure they are seamless.”
According to Amina, the time-frame between approval and disbursement of funds has to be realistic, ideally within one week or a maximum of ten days.
Her admission follows a week of turmoil in the sports sector, which included the national women’s football team being disbanded and the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) offices being raided by auctioneers over pending debts.
Earlier in the week, five national sports federations requested and were granted a hearing with the Departmental Committee on Sports on lack of funding by the Government.
