Kenya should take over sports funding role from wellwishers

AFC Leopard Gilbert Fiamenyo(R) and Ernest Wendo of Gor Mahia battle for ball possession during their Sportpesa Premier League match

On Tuesday, decision by one of the major betting companies, Sportpesa, to pull out of sports sponsorship over increased taxes should get sports lovers in the country concerned.

While presenting the budget statement for the 2017/2018 financial year, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich seemed to have been inspired by former US President Ronald Reagan’s dictum: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

He proposed to raise taxes for betting, lottery, gaming and competition from as low as 15 per cent respectively, to a uniform tax rate of 50 per cent for all categories. The reason, he said, was that betting and gaming had become popular and that their expansion was posing negative social effects. It took the President's intervention to reduce that to 35 per cent in addition to 30 per cent corporate tax.

To qualify the need for taking away half of the industry’s money, Government committed to direct the money to the newly created National Sports, Culture and Arts Fund to support development of sports, culture and arts in Kenya. While this looks encouraging, history does not favour Government when it comes to managing money, especially that meant for sports. As corporates playing in this industry cut or abandon sponsorship, Government’s fund must now come in handy.

The August 2017 Olympic team came back home with not only medals but also damning reports of mismanagement and corruption that stretched as far as officials stealing kits meant for players. The Government is now in for another moment of truth. The usefulness of the fund in question may be subjected to the public court sooner than expected especially now that two teams - AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia - risk pulling out of international competitions over lack of funds.

For many years, sports has been abandoned to well-wishers. From poor playing grounds and failed promises to mismanagement of funds, Government is yet to prove it can put its house in order when it comes to sports development. With the entire Kenyan Premier League, two key football clubs, national soccer team and national rugby team all having been at the mercy of Sportpesa funding, the impact of it pulling out may put the country to shame.

Government should formally commit to support sports either through direct funding or incentives to corporates that sponsor sports.