State comes to the aid of struggling federations

Kenya's Daniel Sikuta charges against South Africa captain Philip Snyman on day three of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney on 28th January, 2018. [IRB.com]

The Government has started disbursing funds to the federations that were affected by the withdrawal of betting firm SportPesa's sponsorship.

The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU), Football Kenya Federation (FKF), and Boxing Association of Kenya (BAK) have received the first batch of the money they had been promised.

According to Sports Permanent Secretary Peter Kaberia, KRU has received Sh30 million while FKF got Sh3 million. BAK had their trip to India fully paid for.

“We sent Sh30 million to KRU to cover the first quarter of their operations while what we sent to FKF is to pay Harambee Stars coach Paul Put,” said Kaberia.

He said more funds would be made availed to the federations soon. The FKF chief executive officer, Robert Muthomi, said they were happy with the Government's gesture and were waiting for more disbursements to cover the costs for Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards ahead of this year’s continental assignments.

“We expect more money soon to help our clubs honour their continental matches,” he said.

The Government said it would set aside Sh500 million this financial year to help the federations.