Make Kenyan sports pay our stars decently

Walter Juma (L) of Shabana FC tackled by Bernard Otieno of Kibera Black Stars FC during their FKF National Super League (NSL) match at Ligi Ndogo Grounds in Nairobi on February 8, 2023. Kibera Black Stars FC won 1-0. [Stafford Ondego, Standard].

It has become routine now. A Kenyan athlete or team goes out there and makes Kenya proud by winning a global prize. Kenyan leaders back home compete to congratulate the stars. They take selfies with them and post on their social media accounts.

The leaders gleefully take the hog and give tokens to the stars even as they seek media coverage while gifting the winners. They splash millions and thousands on the winners even as they seek to be closely associated with them.

There is nothing wrong with rewarding winners and seeking to revel in their exploits. Indeed, as it is reported in this newspapers elsewhere, success has many fathers while failure is an orphan. The special report on the neglect in several sports disciplines including rugby, football and athletics is disheartening.

Constant wrangles, mismanagement and outright theft of funds by sports officials have killed many Kenyan sports. Politicians only appear when winners take the medal. They are hardly anywhere during the process. The fact is they have neglected Kenyan sportsmen and women while training.

When world champion Faith Kipyegon and African 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala recently returned home, they were feted at State House with goodies and cash rewards. Politicians were all over with the world beaters and promised to help other athletes achieve greatness.

When Shabana FC returned to the Premier League politicians from Kisii and elsewhere were all over themselves praising the team and giving them cash handouts. They were not there when the team lacked allowances and bus fare during the just concluded league. But today, they are promising them 'heaven'.

Sadly, such promises have been made in the past and not fulfilled. There are no proper stadiums with running tracks for budding athletes to train on. In the past, teams have failed to travel for lack of air tickets and allowances, under the watch of sports federations and the Ministry of Sports.

The few stadiums across the country are in a sorry state. Some have become grazing fields and unplayable. The unfortunate bit is that some have had funds allocated for their maintenance, but they are embezzled. Sports officials conspire with stadium managers to divert such monies into their pockets.

Going forward, President William Ruto's promise to make sports pay for the millions of our talents must be actualised now. Sports is big business elsewhere which creates a lot of opportunities.

When well organised, sports employ all kinds of professionals and turn around a country's economy. The English Premier League, which most Kenyans follow, is a huge industry in England. It employs hundreds of thousands of people from TV crews, stadium managers, accountants, doctors, coaches, sweepers and many others. It is an economy in itself and a money maker.

The government and all stakeholders must work towards making Kenyan sports pay.