This archive report was first published on 15 December 2019.
As the year draws to a close, sports federations in Kenya have been given a stern warning by Sports Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia: submit your budgets by December 31 or forget about funding from the Sports Fund in 2020.
According to Kaberia, the federations have been given until December 31 to submit their budgets for next year to the Sports Fund Administrator. The Fund, which was commissioned in February this year and into operation in April, spent over Sh3.3 billion in its first year.
However, to avoid being locked out of the funding and ensure smooth running of sports activities in 2020, Kaberia has challenged the federations to abide by the set deadline. Those who fail to do so will not be funded for the whole of next year, he warned.
“Those federations that would not have submitted their budgets to the Funds’ administrator by December 31 will not be funded for the whole of next year. It is as simple as that,” Kaberia told Standard Sports.
He added that the law stipulates that before the end of every August, a circular will be sent to all federations, and that was done on August 27. However, some federations have still not complied, and Kaberia is sure that these are the same people who will be at the forefront of complaining when denied the funds next year.
On January 3, the list of all the federations that would have submitted their budgets by the set deadline will be published. If a federation's name is not on the list, they will not be considered for funding in 2021, Kaberia warned.
Unlike this year, where delays in funds disbursement were experienced by most federations, Kaberia insists that 2020 will be different. There will be no delays in disbursement of funds next year because all those who have applied and been funded will be told six months in advance, he said.
